Ester In Narnia
by itsBeckChadwick
Summary: Esters grandmother Polly has sent Ester to stay with Polly's old friend Digory Kirke for the remainder of the war. That's where the stories her Grandmother told her about a magical place come true with the help of a really spirited little girl.
1. Ester In The Country

**Disclaimer: I do not own anyone except for Dolores Plummer and Ester Plummer. I don't even own their family line, Polly Plummer and the rest of the characters belong to C.S Lewis. All plots go to the author. I do not own Alice In Wonderland either.**

Ester hated the war as most teens did. Ester wanted her father to hug her and tell her it was going to be alright but even if he had been alive today, he would have been serving in the war effort. He wouldn't be at Esters house calming her during the bombing happening outside of her window. Germans were raiding London and Ester had to help move her gran, named Polly, to the bomb shelter with the help of her mother, Dolores. Her gran was older and was very slow but that didn't stop Polly from moving in with her widowed daughter and granddaughter. Polly Plummer had not been able to take care of herself alone in her childhood home so naturally she wanted to move in with her daughter and granddaughter for her last years. Polly wanted Ester to leave her and go into the bomb shelter immediately but Ester would rather get hit with one of the catastrophic bombs then leave her grandmother behind.

Ester had loved living with her mom and gran but she knew her mom was planning to send her somewhere safer for the duration of the war. Somewhere that was more safe with a less chance of air raids. Most parents in the larger cities in England were doing that as soon as they could. Ester lived in Finchley which was a high target area right now. Dolores was planning on sending Ester with the Save The Children program but Polly instead very persistently that Ester go stay with her very old friend, Digory Kirke, who lived far into the country. After Polly persistently presented the idea to Dolores she had no choice but to agree because Polly was interfering with the papers in a childish way anyway. Polly had taken to hiding the papers all around the house, including flushing them down the toilet.

They spent the night in their shelter trying to sleep over the impossibly loud bombs that were slightly dulled down due to the bomb shelters soundproof walls. Polly fell asleep quickly because her hearing was horrid anyway. Dolores stayed awake for a few more hours until the bombs had settled and even though they had seemingly stopped the safest thing to do was just stay in the bomb shelter overnight. Seventeen year old Ester didn't fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning. She had been up all night worrying about leaving. What if her family didn't make it out alive? What if Professor Kirke didn't like her? What if she got lonely? These questions rang in her mind as loud as church bells on Sunday, if not louder. When Ester finally did go to sleep she was woken by her mother not even a half hour later.

"Hurry up my love, you must pack some things." Dolores said rushing a very groggy Ester into the house. Dolores handed Ester a suitcase to fill with belongings.

"Mum, why can't I stay here? With you and Gran?" Ester asked trying to keep what's left of her family together.

"Out of the question, it is far too dangerous!" Dolores all but yelled.

Ester slouched her way to the room she shared with her gran and put a few of her favourite skirts and blouses into her bag. Followed by undergarments and her favourite book. She put a few other things into her suitcase and followed her mums words ushering her downstairs. Ester told her gran how much she loved her and that she would be home as soon as the war was over. Ester then got into her mothers motorcar and stayed quiet on their way to the train station. Neither Ester or Dolores knew what to say, not even when the train station was in sight.

"Ester dear, you know that I'm doing this because I love you right?" Dolores asked slowing the car to park it.

"I know. I love you too. I can handle myself from here." Ester said before she quickly left the car and made her way into the train station, pushing herself past the crowd of people and to the train. She made it to the boarding stage and handed over her ticket when the man asked for it. After getting on the train she sat in the first empty compartment she saw. She lifted her suitcase to put it in the over carry but she nearly dropped it on her head since she could barely even reach her target.

"Let me get that for you." A blonde boy said politely as he grabbed the luggage from her hand and stashed it above for her.

"Thank you." Ester muttered meekly sitting down to claim a window seat as her own.

"I hope you don't mind us joining you, everywhere else is full." The smallest girl said sitting across from me with a sad smile.

"Not at all." Ester shyly smiled and looked at the ground.

The shorter of the two boys sat on the same bench as Ester but as far away as he could have. She sat quietly while the train began to roll along. After about three stops when they were going around a bend the boy beside her fell onto her lap startling her slightly. The blonde boy that helped her earlier told her to just wake up him up she told him it was fine and he must need the sleep.

"I'm Peter," The blonde boy, Peter, said. "This is Susan and Lucy," Peter pointed to the two girls while saying their names. Susan was the older girl and Lucy was the youngest. "The boy on your lap is Edmund. You're not tagged, are you not with save the children?"

"I'm Ester and no, my gran is sending me to one of her friends, Professor Kirke. They were childhood friends and she doesn't seem to trust me with anyone else." Ester said louder than before, warming up to this family.

"That's where we're going, quite the coincidence." Susan mentioned looking at Edmund and caught him opening his eyes but closing them again quickly.

Susan scoffed at her very immature younger brother but still fought the urge to rat him out. Susan would surely give him a talk about respect or honesty that he most likely wouldn't even listen to. The train came to a halt and Ester watched as a few girls were ushered away by there home stay families until the war has ended and their homes were once again deemed safe. The train began to roll forward yet again and Esters anxiety doubled as they neared their destination.

Ester was a little satisfied that she'd met the people she would be spending her days with on the train. It would seem that luck was on her side at the moment as the four children seem to be alright with Esters company. Lucy, who was leaning against her brother and hugging his arm, even made Ester promise that she would play with Lucy during their stay away from home. Peter smiled at her in a friendly way multiple times and Susan was ecstatic about Ester's knowledge of other languages. Her Gram taught her a couple languages when they both had spare time. Edmund was happily napping on her lap so she assumed he was okay with her being around.

The Pevensie children and Ester got to know each other during the rest of the train ride. They told her of their large family and she told them of her small family. The train rolled along and stopped occasionally to let off children and eventually it stopped at a small run down platform that wouldn't be able to hold more then ten people without collapsing. Ester was happy to finally be able to stretch her legs so she gently shook the dark haired boy laying in her lap. Edmund pressed his eyes closed tighter before actually opening them. When Edmund realized they were about to exit the train he jumped up and grabbed his trunk quickly, knocking down someone else's causing it to fall and hit Esters shoulder.

"Ow." Ester muttered after a pathetic attempt at protecting herself from the falling luggage.

"I'm so sorry." Peter loudly apologized grabbing his trunk off the seat next to Ester.

"It's fine." Ester assured grabbing her own trunk. Esters bag nearly came crashing down but she caught it in time.

They quickly got off of the train and walked across the rickety platform and looked to see that there was no one around to transport us to the house. Had they been forgotten? Ester felt bad for doubting the professor when she heard a motorcar come driving down the dirt road that crossed the train tracks. The Pevensies grabbed their things and rushed down the three creaky steps and watched as the car zoomed right past. The car honked at them as it rocked across the train tracks. Ester let her trunk rest beside her as she played with the waistline of her skirt and looked at her feet.

"The professor knew we were coming." Susan muttered setting down her trunk and crossing her arms looking down the road.

"Perhaps we've been incorrectly labelled." Edmund cynically sighed as he looked at the tag pinned to his jacket.

"I know I'm in the right place though." Ester reasoned but no one heard her awkward murmuring.

That's when everyone standing on or around the platform heard the sound of hooves and a lady instructing horses. A older looking lady, hopefully Mrs. McCready, was sitting atop a carriage while two horses galloped up to the train station. Peter asked if she was in fact Mrs. McCready and she confirmed the assumption.

"Is this it then? Haven't you brought anything else?" Mrs. McCready asked looking around and pulling an undecipherable face.

"No ma'am, it's just us." Peter politely told her in a quiet but polite voice.

"Small favours." McCready said mostly to herself while turning to face ahead of her. "Hop in then."

The Pevensie children got into the back before Ester even got off of the platform. Ester rushed over not wanting to keep them waiting and she hoisted her trunk into the back. Peter grabbed her trunk with one hand and held his other out to help her into the back. Ester gave him a friendly smile and accepted his helping hand. Peter pulled her up without using too much effort as Ester was light and easy to pull up.

Ester stayed quiet as did the others during the short trip back to the mansion. The only things to be heard were sound of hooves, and McCready murmuring things along the lines of good girl, and c'mon to the horses that gracefully pulled them across the large lawn. The horses slowed then stopped at McCready's commanding them to do so. She told them to grab their things and follow her into the house for a brief tour of the mansion.

Ester was the first to hop off of the cart pulling her trunk to the ground with a slight crash. Lucy was about to jump off but Ester let her trunk go and grabbed under Lucy's arms to help her off gently instead of her jumping. Lucy thanked her and then grabbed her own suitcase from Susan's waiting hands. Ester picked her trunk back up and dragged it up to the large house. It was one of the most beautiful buildings Ester had ever seen. With a grand luscious yard and vines crawling up the side of the mansion with such elegance. Ester wondered if Digory had held beautiful parties in his youth.

Ester was so caught up in her imagination of a ball where people were dancing and laughing that she didn't notice the Pevensies and McCready had passed her and begun the tour. Ester rushed in to hear McCready yell at Susan to not touch the historical artifacts. Edmund was the only one who noticed that Ester had just appeared behind the group and he smirked a little at her tardiness but said nothing.

"Above all, there shall be no disturbing of the professor." McCready sternly said pointing at them with a very serious look in her eye that made Ester flinch back a bit.

McCready led them to their rooms for the time being. Lucy and Susan would share a room, Peter and Edmund would share a room and Ester would be by herself in a two bedroom. Ester sighed as she pulled up her suitcase up to place it on the bed she wouldn't occupy.

"Do you like your room?" Lucy asked with a straight face from the doorway before rushing over to Esters window. "You have a nice view too. I think you, Susan and I got the good rooms. The boys can only see the shed out of theirs."

"Yeah," Ester said opening her trunk to pull out something she could wear in bed. "It's a very nice place."

"Lucy!" Susan scolded appearing in the doorway. "You ought to be in bed." Susan walked over and grabbed the small girls hand and carefully tugged her out of the room.

"Goodnight." Lucy waved over her shoulder as she was pulled from the room by her older sister.

Ester waved as a signal of goodbye and changed into her night clothes. Ester wore a simple pink nightgown and put on her slippers to protect her feet from the harsh cold of the hardwood floor. Ester grabbed the book she packed and turned the full room light off using the switch by the door. Ester walked over to her bed and turned on the dull lamp that was settled on the bedside table. Ester tucked herself into the sheets on the bed so her legs were covered by the blanket but her back rested on the head board. Ester opened the book where she had last left off and began to fly through the pages with a small smiling tugging at her lips. Ester heard a light tap on her door and looked up to see Peter Pevensie standing at the door looking sheepish.

"Your shoulder okay?" He asked entering Esters room and walking over to lean on one of the bed posts at the end of her bed.

"It's fine." Ester replied closing her book so her four fingers were still keeping her place.

"Sorry about Ed, I's sure he just misses our dad. Anyway, I don't know if you want to hear this but there were more attacks tonight." Peter told her while he tapped his long fingers on the bed post.

"Uh," Ester didn't know what to say as she didn't need the extra worry pinging at her heart tonight. "Thanks, for the update." She said so she didn't come off as rude.

"Sure. Goodnight." Peter muttered scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably as he turned and left the room. Peter closed the door behind him.

Ester looked at the book in her hands and opened it again to read with less excitement as she previously had. Ester let her mind take her into the fantasy that was; _Alice In Wonderland_. Ester let her self believe she was as innocent and brave as Alice. Ester put herself into the story, letting her mind imagine her speaking with the giant blue caterpillar sitting on a mushroom. Ester put the small scrap of paper back into it's spot as a bookmark and put the table on the side of the bed. Ester turned the lamp off and crawled under the blankets so only her head was visible.

The sheets were less than soft. Ester slightly pouted at the creaky sound the springs made with every turn she made trying to get comfortable on the bed. Ester closed her eyes and tried to think of something calming; like sheep grazing in a farmers field. Sleep didn't seem to want to come to Ester. After a few hours of tossing and turning in the noisy bed she finally drifted into dreamland.

Ester woke up with a start as she heard a loud crash coming from the hallway. Ester hesitated but took the blankets off of her body and slowly walked to the door that lead into the hallway. Ester opened the door and was instantly confused at the sight. There were great trees with pretty pink and purple leaves. She stepped into the hallway and looked down when her bare feet hit something soft. The hardwood floor was replaced with vivid green grass making a wide smile replace Ester's tight lipped expression. After taking a few steps into the foreign territory she turned in hopes to retreat into her room and put on some shoes to wear while exploring this new land but the door behind her was long gone. Ester walked back towards where the door stood only moments before.

Suddenly a little white rabbit in a fancy vest murmuring about being late rushed past with a little blonde girl right on his tail. Ester watched their form retreat before looking in the opposite direction. She decided to see where the girl came from in hopes to return to the mansion. Ester walked for a few minutes before there started to be more and more trees. Eventually she had to change her course with every step because of the amount of trees. Ester soon lost track of which was she was trying to go. Ester turned again thinking she'd chosen the wrong way to go but behind her was now a brick wall that seemed to go on for ages either way. Ester huffed before turning again and seeing a large mammal of some sort staring at her. The animal had the beak and wings of an amazing eagle but it had four legs like a horse of some sort. She stared at it before taking a courageous step towards it.

The animal looked at her suspiciously before reaching over her and grabbing the back of her night gown with it's beak and pulling her up and onto his back. He jumped off and started flying towards the clouds. Ester screamed and kept her eyes closed tightly but the feel of the wind on her face made her open her eyes. She saw them approach a cloud and she felt her cheeks get wet while passing through it. Ester smiled an award winning smile and stretched her arms out on either side of her. Then the animal spun around in a barrel roll sort of way and that sent Ester flying toward the ground and at fast speed. As she fell, Ester only got faster with no way to save herself. Ester screamed as she watched the ground get closer and closer.

When she hit the ground she shot up and out of her bed, for real this time. She looked around her room until her eyes rested on the book that was on her nightstand. She opened to the twenty third page and read the middle paragraph. It was about a blonde Alice chasing the rabbit who was late. She rolled her eyes and closed the book putting it right back where it was before. Ester felt a dry feeling in her throat so she made her way to the kitchen for a glass of water. She opened the door to the hallway and instantly looked to the ground which was in fact a hardwood floor. As she walked down the hallway Ester let her fingers linger on the wall of the hallway with a stoic expression.

Once at the kitchen Ester poured herself a glass of water and leaned against the counter while slowly sipping her drink. She heard footsteps and saw Peter walking into the room and he slowed when he saw her. She gave him a small smile and set her drink down so she could hoist herself on to the counter to sit.

"So, have you actually met the Professor?" Peter asked trying to make small talk while holding a glass under the tap to get himself some water.

"No, he and my Gram were just really good friends when they were younger." Ester explained watching Peter turn to face her.

"Oh, that's lucky. Not having to go with a _complete_ stranger." Peter sighed letting a look of disappointment cross his face while speaking.

"I suppose but, I mean, I think you're the lucky one. You have your siblings, I have a man that I've heard stories about." Ester complained and she visibly frowned. Ester hopped off of the counter and left the room before Peter could get a single word in.

Ester returned to her room and closed the door behind her. She laid back onto her bed with such heartache for her family. Ester didn't know what time it was when she fell asleep but this sleep was dreamless. Ester was peacefully sleeping for hours before she woke up again.


	2. Ester In The Library

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Ester. **

Ester woke up slowly and groggily with a certain feeling of disappointment. She was still in the Professors house. Not her own, back with her Gram and her mother. Ester pulled the blankets off of her body and scratched the side of her neck while tilting her head the opposite direction to give herself more space. She stretched her arms over her head and stood up with a yawn. Ester then turned and quickly fixed the sheets on her bed before pulling on her slippers and walked into the kitchen to join the Pevensie girls for breakfast. They told Ester how she shouldn't expect the boys for at least another hour.

"This jam is fantastic!" Lucy chirped and then smiled while biting into her toast.

"Yeah, it is really good." Ester agreed finishing up her own piece.

"No need to get that excited over jam." Susan muttered rolling her eyes at Lucy and handing her a napkin to wipe off her face with.

Lucy scoffed but accepted the napkin anyway and wiped crumbs off of the corners of her mouth. Ester then rose from her seat and walked back to her room to put on some proper clothes for the day. She walked slowly to her room looking at each painting on the wall. There were paintings from great battles and also paintings of woman that Ester knew nothing about. Ester stopped in front of one of the portraits and created a whole backstory for the woman. She thought of a delicate relationship that she had with one of her servants. Esters hand trailed on the corner of the frame and she smiled slightly as she thought of an ill fated end for the both of them.

Ester then began to walk again and she walked into her room. She opened her suitcase and thought for a brief moment. Ester put on a purple skirt that went to her knees and a white blouse sprinkled with purple flowers. Ester put on her socks and shoes and grabbed a pink ribbon to put in her hair. Ester braided the ribbon into her french braid and then sat on the bed and took a deep breath.

"Maybe it will be a good day." Ester muttered before walking over to the window and peaking past the curtain only to see buckets of raining falling against the window. "Well, I guess that's that."

"Are you talking to yourself?" Ester heard and she spun to see Peter leaning against the door frame with a grin on his face.

"Oh no, well, I suppose I was, but it was more of a thinking out loud type of deal. I guess someone could find it weird. But I'm not. Well, perhaps a little but not that much." Ester found herself stumbling over her words at the sight of Peter Pevensie leaning against her door frame without a shirt covering his torso.

"You alright?" Peter asked walking towards Ester's open suitcase and he grabbed a grey cardigan before walking over to Ester. "Here, it's quite chilly in this house being as it's so old."

"T-thanks." Ester stuttered out while slowly reaching out and grabbing the cardigan from Peters grasp.

"We're all going to be in the library, if you want to come down with us." Peter said before turning and walking back towards the door. "That blouse looks very nice on you, by the way."

Ester's eyes widened at the compliment. Boys had never complimented her before this and she wasn't sure they would compliment her after. Honestly, Ester hadn't really had too much contact with boys due to the fact he was always with her grandmother and helping around the house and she went to an all girl school. Although, Ester didn't mind being alone, actually she quite preferred it. She spent her time reading and writing stories and now she was in a house full of people she barely knows and a boy she thought was really attractive. A boy who was now shirtless and retreating from her temporary room.

"Thanks. I'll see you later then." Ester called trying to think of anything intelligent to say.

Peter just mumbled a 'yeah' and continued to leave the room. Once he left Ester took in a deep breath and not even thirty seconds later Edmund walked in scowling. Ester looked at him confused as she shrugged on her cardigan and did up a few buttons but not enough that it covered her whole blouse.

"Why was Peter in here with his clothes half off?" Edmund asked in a snarky voice.

"He showed up like that." Ester replied hastily walking past Edmund and down the corridor and he followed right behind her.

"Why?" Edmund continued to press on.

"I don't really know, actually." Ester stopped and turned which made Edmund run into her. "He just said you'd all be in the library, since the weather is rubbish."

"You want to hang around us?" Edmund asked looking up at her suspiciously.

"Do you not want me around?" Ester asked feeling slightly uncomfortable with the situation she was now in.

"I don't really care." Edmund then stalked past her and she assumed that Ed was on his way to the library.

"Well, okay then. That's alright." Ester awkwardly murmured before walking in the same direction.

"Do you always talk to yourself, ya looney?" Peter joked coming up behind her and putting a hand on her shoulder letting his arm rest around her loosely.

"No, I was talking to Edmund." Ester muttered weakly and Peter looked around for Ed with a chuckle.

"He's not even here." Peter smiled brightly and laughed as they both began to walk down the corridor together.

"He was though, earlier." Ester said while crossing her arms. "He kind of stalked off."

"He hasn't been the same since our dad left for the war." Peter said as they reached the large wooden doors of the library. Peter grabbed the handle and opened the door for her.

"Thanks." Ester muttered walking into the room.

Ester stopped talking to Peter when she saw the walls lined with books of every shape and size. Peter smiled at the girl before walking over to sit by Susan who was reading some large boring book. Ester made her way over and ran her fingers along the books. Lucy was sitting in a chair looking at the ran covered window and Edmund laid with his back on floor scratching something into the bottom of one of the fancy chairs that sat in the middle of the room. Susan began to quiz Peter on the words in the book and their meaning. Lucy got up out of her seat and walked over to Ester who had pulled a dusty looking book off of the shelf.

"What book have you chosen?" Lucy asked looking up at Ester with her big eyes.

"Alice In Wonderland." Ester replied showing Lucy the book.

"What's it about?" Lucy questioned taking the book and flipping to a random page.

"It's my favourite, I have my own copy upstairs. It's about a young girl who falls into a rabbit hole which sends her in a different world. Then she meets wonderful people and creatures, and a very very bad queen who tries to hurt her and her friends." Ester explained and Lucy looked intrigued.

"If you have your own copy, do you mind if I read this one?" Lucy asked politely holding the book to her chest.

"Not at all, tell me what you think of it." Ester smiled and Lucy repeated the action before turning and running to go sit down and start reading the book.

Ester picked a different book and sat down to read it as well. After an hour of reading and hearing Peter and Susan play a very dull game of knowledge, Ester closed the book and saw Edmund was still scratching away at the chair and Lucy was just closing the book now.

"Gastrovascular." Susan said pronouncing each syllable but Peter just sighed. "Come on, Peter. Gastrovascular."

"Is it Latin?" Peter asked rolling his eyes to look over at his sister.

"Yes..." Susan said looking to Peter for his answer.

"Is it Latin for worst game ever invented?" Edmund sarcastically asked and Susan sneered at him.

"We could play hide-and-seek!" Lucy cheered jumping out of her chair with a smile.

"But we're already having so much fun." Peter said dully and Susan slammed the book shut.

"Please, please, please!" Lucy begged pouting at Peter who clearly looked like denying her cute little face was the hardest thing he's done in a long time.

"One... Two... Three... Four..." Peter started to slowly count with a smile.

Lucy ran past Ester and grabbed her hand as she did. Lucy led Ester down a hallway and Ester turned her head to Edmund following them. Lucy let go of her hand and tried to duck behind a curtain but Edmund pushed Lucy out and hid there instead. Lucy stuck out her tongue and grabbed Esters hand again who said nothing but willingly followed the energetic little girl. Lucy tried a couple of doors but each one was locked. When one door finally opened Lucy ran in and pulled Ester in behind her.

They saw a large white sheet covering something. Lucy walked over and ester got distracted by a small fly that was fluttering around the window. Lucy pulled out the sheet rather gracefully and it floated to the ground.

"We can hide together in here." Lucy offered opening the door.

"No, no. You go ahead, I'll find somewhere else." Ester rushed out of the room assuming that Lucy was now hidden within the wardrobe.

Ester ran into the hallway and tried the room across the hall which was open and just a spare bedroom. Ester thought that the room hadn't been touched in days. Dust was scattered along the tops of all the furniture. Ester saw that there was only a bed, dresser, and small nightstand, so she knew the only spot was under the bed. Ester ducked under the bed and tuned into the tail end of Peter's counting. Under the bed was slightly dusty but not as bad a the exposed furniture tops. "Ninety-eight, Ninety-nine, one hundred! Ready or not, here I come!" Peter yelled through the halls and Ester hid a chuckle.

"I'm back, I'm back, it's alright!" Ester was confused at the words and she listened in closer.

"Shh, he's coming!" Ester heard Edmund snap and then she heard the voice of Peter claim they don't quite have the idea of the game. Ester crawled out from under the bed and joined the three in the corridor.

"But weren't you wondering where I was?" Lucy asked looking at the two boys.

"That's the point!" Edmund snapped looking at her like she was stupid, which she wasn't. "That's why he was seeking you!"

"Does this mean I win?" Susan asked with a genuine smile as she jogged up the hallway to talk with everyone.

"I don't think Lucy wants to play anymore." Peter said looking at Lucy who looked utterly confused.

"But I've been gone for hours..." Lucy looked around and saw that everyone was confused so she grabbed onto Peter's hand and dragged him into the room she had been hiding in. "I went into the wardrobe but when I backed up I fell into a forest! There was snow, trees, and this lamp post! Then I met a faun and had tea and toast, it was wonderful. Until... well... I got out."

Susan then walked up to the wardrobe and opened the doors, pushing away the various fur coats to see the back of the wardrobe. Lucy backed up and her back hit Esters stomach and Ester put her arms around Lucy. Lucy grabbed onto Esters forearms for comfort. Peter went to the back of the wardrobe and began to knock on the back which was a few inches away from the wall.

"The only wood in here is the back of the wardrobe." Susan said with raised eyebrows.

"One game at a time Lu, we don't all have your imagination." Peter said with a small smile.

"But I wasn't imagining!" Lucy defended with a look on her face that made her appear to be on the verge of tears.

"That's enough." Susan said furrowing her brow at her younger sister.

"Well, I believe you." Edmund declare and everyone turned to look at him.

"You do?" Lucy said with disbelief but also with hope.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you about the football field I found in the bathroom closet?" Edmund jabbed at his sister and that's when she began to cry. Ester moved her hands to rub Lucy's arms comfortingly.

"Why don't you just stop it, you always have to make everything worse. Grow up!" Peter's voice rose and turned the discussion into a row.

"Shut up! You think you're dad, but you're not!" Edmund howled before storming out of the room.

"Well, that was nicely handled!" Susan uttered before walking out of the room after Edmund.

"It really was there..." Lucy attempted and looked to her brother for any sign of him believing her.

"Susan's right. That's enough." Peter pointed at her before he left the room as well.

"Ester?" Lucy asked and Ester knew Lucy was asking if Ester believed her. Ester turned Lucy to face her and Ester dropped onto her knees to be face to face with the brown haired girl.

"Do you pinky promise you're not fibbing?" Ester asked sticking out her finger to the little girl.

"I do!" Lucy wrapped her finger around the older girls'.

"Then I believe you." Ester smiled and Lucy's tears stopped and she broke into a grin. "Actually, I'd love to hear more about it."

"Really?" Lucy asked with delight and Ester couldn't fight a smile.

"Of course." Ester replied and tickled the young girl which caused Lucy to run away laughing. Ester smiled at the retreating girl.


	3. Ester In The Rain

**I own nothing. Except Ester.**

Ester walked over the wardrobe and closed the door slowly. She looked at the sheet on the floor and debated putting it back on but decided against it. Ester left the room closing the door behind her. She walked down the corridor and saw the library door was open and he could hear mumbles coming from inside. She walked in to see Lucy sitting in a chair with her knees pulled up to rest on the table let her legs dangle a bit. She had a book resting on her lap. Ester moved closer to see that it was Alice in Wonderland. Lucy heard Ester foot steps and turned to look over her shoulder.

"Oh Ester! Listen!" Lucy turned back to her book and paraphrased what she read. "Alice ran away to hide from her family. When she was running she fell into a hole and turned up in a new world!"

"That's what happened to you, isn't it?" Ester smiled while taking a seat beside Lucy at the table. Ester rested her elbows on the table and clamped her hands together.

"Ester," Lucy started putting the book down. "Why don't my siblings believe me about Narnia? The others don't."

"Narnia? Who said anything about Narnia?" Ester asked taken aback by the word. Her Gran talked about it all the time. It was the location of the stories she told Ester about when she was about to go to bed.

"That's the place I went to." Lucy smiled tilting her head. "I must have forgotten to mention the name of it."

Ester didn't know ow to reply and Lucy went back to reading her book. Ester left the room stunned and walked towards the door. Lucy told her she'd stop by her room later and Ester mumbled out a response of 'ok' and left the library. Ester walked down the corridor and Peter was walking towards her. When they were close enough he smiled at her but he looked away and just kept walking.

"Hey," Peter grabbed her arm as she passed him. "Are you cross with me?"

"You, Edmund, and Susan but mostly Edmund." Ester tried to shrug off his hand but he held on too tight to get off but not tight enough to hurt.

"I can see why you'd be frustrated with Ed but why me?" Peter asked dropping his hand and squinting his eyes at me.

"Let's say Lucy is fibbing." Ester said but Peter cut her off.

"She is."

"No, I don't think she is but, hypothetically let's say she is." Ester crossed her arms and moved all her weight to one foot sticking out her hip. "You literally told her to stop using her imagination. Why would you do that to a child? You're a terrible brother."

Ester stalked off down the hallway and looked over to see Peter will his head hung low. Ester took a deep breath in and let it out lowly. She walked back over to him and he looked up with a heartbreaking look on his face.

"I'm sorry I said that, you're a great brother." Ester put her hand on Peter's upper arm. "Look, I'm not their older sibling so I clearly don't really have input here but I really think Lucy was being truthful."

"How could you possibly think that?" Peter looked confused and frustrated at Ester and the situation.

"Maybe I just have a little more faith than you do." Ester let her hand drop from his arm and gave him a small smile before turning and leaving the hallway.

Ester walked back to her room quietly and sat on the bed. Ester debated about reading but decided against it. Ester thought it best to spend a little time on earth and not in magical lands. Ester found it hard to believe how fast Lucy's family was to put her down. Ester wished for year to have a little brother or sister and after less than two day Lucy felt like one to her. Ester had always been kind to other people and she always tried to keep imagination alive like a good author would.

Ester heard a knock on the door and saw Lucy standing there in a raincoat and boots. She was holding another set, presumably for Ester.

"Mrs. McCready had these! She said that she figured we wouldn't bring any ourselves. We'll she was half right. These are my boots." Lucy looked at her boots while rocking back onto her heels.

"Are you suggesting we go out into the rain?" Ester smiled brightly, she truly loved the rain.

"It slowed down a little." Lucy stretched out her arms holding the bright yellow boots and raincoat. "My boots aren't yellow like yours but their centennial."

"I think you mean sentimental." Ester laughed sitting on the ground to take off her shoes and pull on her new boots by the handles on each side of each boot.

"That's what I said." Lucy shrugged and Ester stood up and took the coat out of the younger girls hands.

"Whatever you say love." Ester smiled buttoning up her coat.

Ester and Lucy walked to the front doors together and Mrs. McCready was already there holding two yellow hats that matched their coats. She didn't say a word as she thrust them at the two girls ready to play in the rain. The girls' put on the hats and politely thanked the caretaker for the hats. They ran outside and began to slosh about in the puddles on the driveway. Lucy was smiling and stomping about in the mud as was Ester.

Ester grabbed Lucy's hand and they made their way into the woods beside the house. Ester let o of Lucy's hand and sat down at the trunk of a tree and motioned for Lucy to do the same. She leaned her head up against the tree and looked up. Lucy followed suit by sitting against the same tree and then leaned her head back. Ester told Lucy about this big tree she has in her backyard. Ester would it against it and look up at the sky that was peaking between the leaves and Lucy exclaimed that it looked really pretty.

"It makes everything else, school, family problems, the war, seem so small. So unimportant, so irrelevant." Ester sighed looking at the sky and blinking away the rain that drizzled onto her face.

"It does make the tree look quite big!" Lucy smiled wiping the rain away with the back of her hand. "It reminds me of Narnia. Oh, Ester! You'd just adore it!" Lucy smiled and looked back up at the sky.

"Why don't you tell me all about your adventures then, Lu. I'd love to hear what you did." Ester said making Lucy scoot around so she was in front of Ester instead of beside.

"So when you left the room to go hide elsewhere I went into the wardrobe. I left it open a little bit because it would be silly to lock myself in a wardrobe. I kept walking backwards looking for the end but it didn't come. I could smell something weird but I chalked it up to the moths balls. Then I felt plants but not just plants. Trees! Then I looked down and saw snow! I was pretty stunned when I turned around and saw woods." Lucy paused and looked around her. "Imagine these woods, but covered in snow and a few more Christmas trees. Now imagine a little clearing here with a black lamp post covered in frost. No, not frost more like a thin sheet of ice. When I touched it the ice melted beneath my fingers." Lucy said while raising her hand and pretending to touch something but she dropped it quickly.

"Then I heard footsteps, and I was ready to turn and run but I was frozen to the spot. Then this man, he turned out to be a faun but I didn't know that at the time, stumbled out fro behind a tree not wearing a shirt. In the snow no less and-" Lucy was cut off by someone calling both of their names from the house. "I'll tell you the rest later."

Ester stood up and held out a hand for Lucy who took it gratefully and pulled herself up. Lucy declared a race and took off before Ester could say anything. Ester laughed and chased after the girl to no avail. Lucy beat her to the house and rushed inside before Ester. When Ester got into the house she saw Lucy's jacket hung up and no sign of Lucy or her boots. Ester shrugged off her coats and hung it up as Lucy had. Ester pulled off her boots and carried them up the stairs and to her room. She placed them by the door and walked to the dining room and saw supper was laid out of the table.

The Pevensie's were all sitting except for Peter. Ester took the spot beside Edmund and he glared at her until she said it was either her or Peter. That statement got his glare to stop.

The table was filled with delicious foods. There was corn on cob and steaks. Ester smiled when she saw mashed potatoes because they were her absolute favourite. Ester politely asked Susan to pass them over and Susan smiled brightly at manners handing them over instantly. Peter then turned up and scanned the table to see everyone there.

"Where'd you go?" Susan asked putting a small piece of green beans in her mouth.

"To find Ester but," Peter stopped to look at Ester who was currently stabbing a piece of steak with her fork in an attempt to put it onto her plate. "there she is."

Peter sat down and they ate as if they hadn't had a row a few hours ago. They all ate silently but pleasantly. Edmund was the first to finish and he ran off as soon as he did. Peter shook his head but the look fro Susan rendered him to say nothing. Ester finished and wiped her mouth before excusing herself to go to her room. It wasn't that late but she felt tired out. She sat on the bed and played with the sheets under her fingers. Lucy knocked on the door and let herself in.

"Might I finish my story now?" Lucy asked jumping on the bed Ester didn't use.

"Of course." Ester smiled at the girl. "Maybe we should get into our night gowns?"

"Sure, I'll be right back!" Lucy jumped up and left the room. Once she did Ester changed into her pink sleeveless nightgown topped off with her light blue robe and matching slippers. Lucy reappeared moments later in her white nightgown.

"Where was I?" Lucy asked climbing onto the same bed as Ester.

"The faun, but you didn't know that's what he was at the time came out of the woods." Ester clarified sitting next to Lucy.

"Right." Lucy cleared her throat then got really into her story. "Well, he came out of the woods only wearing this red scarf. But don't worry he had these legs of a horse, I think he said horse, so he wasn't indecent or anything. So, he only had on this scarf but he wasn't even cold. He scared me so I screamed, then that scared he and he screamed. Then we both retreated and hide behind something, I hide behind the lamp post and him a tree. Then I picked up one of his parcels and he came out and we made some small talk. Then he said," Lucy then stood up on the bed and did a little bow. "Lucy Pevensie, how would it be, if you came and had tea with me?" Then she jumped up and landed on her bum next to Ester which made Ester laugh and gently shove Lucy's shoulder.

"What next Lu?" Ester asked rolling over to lay on her stomach and pace her elbows on her pillow then rest her head on her hands.

"Well, I went for tea. Mr. Tumnus brought me to his cute little house which was a cave. There was a beautiful fire, and the picture of his father was lovely. They look so similar. Then we had some tea and then Mr. Tumnus played a son on this weird flute that was like a normal flute but then it branched out into two. Then he played this song that made the fire dance." Lucy smiled and Ester was impressed by her story telling. "I'm not even being descriptive, the fire actually danced. There were spirits, dryads, dwarves, and a stag. If you catch the stag then you get a wish." Lucy then stood up and Ester flipped back around to sit normally.

"Is that when you came home?" Ester asked watched Lucy continue her story.

"Kind of, I didn't decide to, I had to. You see, Mr. Tumnus is on the White Witches payroll. So When I woke up it turned out that the song lulled me to sleep. I woke up and Mr. Tumnus was crying against a wooden pillar. I gave him my handkerchief and asked him what was wrong and it turns out he tried t betray me. Tried to kidnap me because the White Witch told everyone in Narnia that meeting a Daughter of Eve or Son of Adam, that means boy or girl there, and not telling her was a criminal act. He changed his mind though and he," Lucy didn't stop talking but began to run around the room. "helped me escape by running with me back to the lamp post. But we had to be quiet." Lucy stopped running at the end of the bed and grabbed one of the end bed posts while using it to lean far to the side with a smile.

"Why?" Ester questioned getting closer and tickling Lucy's stomach which made her let go of the bed post making her fall over. Ester laughed but got up to make sure Lucy was okay and Ester knew she was when she saw Lucy laugh and jump up quickly grabbing Esters hand and looking directly at her.

"Some of trees are her spies." Lucy said seriously pulling both of them down onto the bed. They laid sideways on the bed laughing.

"So dramatic. What happened next?" Ester asked sitting up as Lucy stayed back.

"I came back through the wardrobe, and you guys hadn't realized I'd left." Lucy smiled sadly. "I suppose time hadn't really gone by here. Must be different, like timezones."

"It must be something like that. Luce, could I tell you something." Ester looked at the little girl.

"Sure, I just told you a whole story so I think it only fair to listen now." Lucy joked sitting up.

"My Gran used to talk about Narnia, she told me stories of it all the time before bed." Ester fell back again and Lucy followed suit. "She always talked of magic rings, Jadis, and Aslan."

"I never told you that." Lucy looked over at her. "What magic rings?"

"Um, my Gran said they linked worlds, or something of the sort." Ester took a deep breath and looked from Lucy to the ceiling.

"You'll have to ask her when you go back, then write me." Lucy poked Ester's arm.

"I promise." Ester said looking over at the bouncy girl.

"Pinky promise?" Lucy asked holding out her pinky and Ester laughed whole heartily.

"Pinky Promise." Ester promised wrapping a pinky around Lucy's smaller one.

"I think it's fate. Fate that brought you to us, to me!" Lucy sat up when she heard her name called and Susan poked her head into the room.

"Lu, it's best you're off to bed." Susan then left the room and Lucy stood and walked out of the room stopping at the door to say goodnight.

Ester fell under the covers and Peter walked into the room with a bit of a pout on his face. Ester watched him as he walked over to her. He sat down next to her and she looked up at him questioningly even though he sat there and said nothing.

"I was about to go to bed so... is there a reason you're here?" Ester asked sitting up. "Oh, that sounded rude! I'm sorry." Peter chuckled at the apology.

"Don't apologize, it really wasn't that rude." Peter played with the sheets between his fingers. "I was just going to ask you something."

"What is it?" Ester said before putting her hand over her mouth to shield her yawn.

"Why did you believe her so easily?" Peter asked. "I've been wondering all day."

"She didn't have any reason to lie, and she called it Narnia, that's what my Gran called the location of my bedtime stories when I was little." Ester told him and he shuffled so he was sitting next to her with his back resting back on the headboard as Ester was doing.

"She's really taking a shining to you." Peter mentioned looking over at Ester. He reached behind her and pulled the elastic out of her hair and unwove her braid. He took the ribbon out and played with for a minute. "She won't talk to e right now."

"She's cross and she has right to be." Ester said bluntly and Peter looked up at her with sad eyes. "Sorry." Ester didn't really mean nor did Peter think she meant it.

"I know. Even if I don't believe her..." Peter looked to the wall for a second. "No. What am I thinking? She took it too far. It went from imaginative to lying." Peter looked at Ester. "Goodnight." peter left the room swiftly with the ribbon still in his hand.


	4. Ester In The Wardrobe

**I own nothing. Except Ester.**

Ester was having trouble sleeping when she heard the familiar squeaking of boots in the hallway. Ester got up and rushed to the door to see Lucy walking past her bedroom wearing rubber boots and holding a candlestick. Ester grabbed her robe and boots and she tossed on her robe and pulled her boots on quickly having to awkwardly jump on one foot to get on each boot. Ester ran over to Lucy and grabbed her hand. Lucy turned to her with hopes Ester wouldn't tell her to go back to her bedroom and sleep as Susan would.

"Narnia?" Ester asked bluntly and Lucy nodded slightly avoiding Esters eyes.

"Take me with you." Ester requested and Lucy smiled brightly quickly changing her attitude.

Lucy just pulled Ester with her down the hallway. They entered the room where Lucy had hid earlier in the day and Ester let go of Lucy's hand to let her run ahead and open the wardrobe. As she did, a gust of wind blew out turning Lucy's flame into a small stream of smoke to rise above Lucy's head. Ester followed behind Lucy as the younger girl went fearlessly into the wardrobe.

Ester was amazed when she stepped into the seemingly never ending wardrobe and landed in Narnia. Lucy stopped by the lamp post to give Ester a minute to drink everything in as Lucy had. Ester touched the trees and smiled as the snow that was sprinkled across them fell towards the ground. Ester then ran over to Lucy surprising her as she picked her up and spun her around and around. Lucy and Ester spun and laughed for a few moments before Ester set her down.

"Lucy, this is amazing!" Ester pushed her hair back behind her ears and spread her arms to spin around and let the snow fall on her.

"I know, come on. I have to make sure Mr. Tumnus is okay. There's no time to spare!" Lucy said grabbing onto Ester' hand and pulling her along.

Lucy almost forgot the path back to Mr. Tumnus' but she remembered well enough as they were now outside the door to a little cave like house. Lucy knocked gently three times and Ester was slightly stunned by what opened the door. It was just as Lucy described it. It was half man, half horse. Ester thought Lucy said horse or something of the sort. Lucy failed to mention the cute little horns that peeked through his bushy hair. Lucy hugged him immediately and he told her that the queen had no idea about what had gone on.

"Do you think she's just waiting to act until tomorrow?" Lucy asked pulling back from the hug.

"Oh dear, no, it's been days since you've been here." Mr. Tumnus concluded looking over at Ester. "Is this Susan?" Tumnus asked pointing at Ester. "Are you Susan?"

"No, I'm Ester." Ester answered and Lucy jumped into the conversation soon after.

"She's staying at the same house we are, she's lovely. She's not always serious like Susan."

"Oh, well, any friend of Lucy is a friend of mine." Mr. Tumnus said before politely bowing and Ester curtsied in response.

"Would you two enjoy some tea? I see that you're one again not prepared for the winter." Mr. Tumnus shook his head with a smiled and stepped aide to let the two daughters of eve into his house.

"I've brought boots this time." Lucy pointed out with her usual bright smile.

Mr. Tumnus just laughed and closed the door once the two girls were clear of it. Mr. Tumnus made them a fresh pot of tea. Once they were all sitting Mr. Tumnus told them a story that his dad told him when he was a younger faun. The story was about a daughter of Eve and son of Adam. They had magic rings that they used to navigate the worlds and throughout Narnia itself. He talked of Aslan creating Narnia just for those two children. Mr. Tumnus had to apologize for he didn't remember their names. He talked of the first time that the White Witch ever entered Narnia and the hatred that ot of the Narnians harbour for her.

"I think we should go." Lucy said standing and placing down her teacup. "This has been lovely but I really am tired now."

"Alright," Mr. Tumnus rose from his seat as well and Ester quickly followed suit. "Until next time."

"Pleasure to meet you Mr. Tumnus." Ester smiled at him and he held out hi hand for her to shake. Ester shook his hand and Lucy smiled.

"And you, fair Ester." Mr. Tumnus walked over to the door and opened it while grabbing his scarf.

"No, Mr. Tumnus. It's not necessary for you to walk us. I know the way." Lucy smiled at him and walked out the door with Ester in tow.

Lucy was quiet on the walk back and Ester remembered the bit about the trees being spies. Ester walked silently along with Lucy until she saw Lucy ran ahead. Ester followed briskly knowing Peter and Susan would probably lock Ester up if she lost their sister in a different realm. Ester followed and froze when she saw Edmund rubbing his arms for warmth. Ester could hear Lucy's voice but not make out what she was saying.

"Edmund? Are you okay? You look awful." Lucy observed when Ester was within earshot.

"Well what do you expect! It's freezing! How do we get out of here?" Edmund snapped looking over Lucy's shoulder at Ester.

"Come on... this way." Lucy instructed grabbing Edmund hand and then also Ester hand as Lucy walked past her.

Lucy lead them back to England without delay. They went back to the spare room and Edmund quickly rushed out of the room, presumably for a blanket or a jumper. Lucy closed the wardrobe door behind her and turned back to Ester who she hugged quickly. Ester was ecstatic at what she'd seen in the last few hours. Mr. Tumnus was lovely and forest was phenomenal. Ester had never seen anything o beautiful. Ester had never been to a more delightful place. That was the best glass of tea that she had ever tasted and Ester hoped that one day soon, she'd be back.

Lucy ran out of the room quickly with Ester right on her tail. Lucy ran into Peter's room and Ester hesitated but decided to go in anyway. Ed was already there cuddled into his blanket for warmth. Lucy flicked the light on and jumped on Peter's bed landing on her knees and shaking Peter awake.

"Peter, Peter wake up! It's there, it's really there!" Lucy nearly screamed and Ester shushed her lightly peaking out the door for any sign of the McCready.

"Lucy, what are you talking about?" Peter asked rolling over and wiping his eyes.

"Narnia! It's all in the wardrobe, like I told you!" Lucy said a little quieter but still loud.

"Oh, Lucy, you've been dreaming." Susan muttered from the door nearly scaring Ester half to death.

"No I wasn't, I saw Mr. Tumnus again! Oh, and this time – Edmund and Ester went too." Lucy explained and Peter sat up to look at Lucy better and Edmund came out of his cocoon of sheets.

"You saw the faun?" Peter asked looking at Edmund and he completely didn't notice Ester say yes.

"Well, he didn't actually go there with me. What were you doing Edmund?" Lucy asked and everyone turn their gaze to Edmund.

"I-I was just playing along. You know what little children are like these days, they just don't know when to stop pretending." Edmund smirked sitting back onto his bed taring at his sister with a smug look.

"No, she's right! I was there!" Ester protested and Lucy ran over to her in tears. Lucy threw her arms around her and wept into Esters stomach.

"Don't play along right now, Ester." Peter warned pointing a finger at her but shoving Ed back onto the bed who said ow with a scowl.

Lucy ran out of the room crying and Ester tried to stop her but she was too upset with her family to stay. Susan followed Lucy quickly and Peter stood up to do the same. Peter went to follow them but Ester grabbed his arm and he spun around to face her. There was a brief pause between the until Peter raised his eyebrows waiting for an explanation as to why Ester stopped him.

"She's not lying, Ed is." Ester said Peter glared down at her.

"You were right about one thing before, _you're_ not here sister." Peter sneered pulling his arm away and chasing after his sisters.

Ester felt put down and was about to go back to her room but she turned to look at Edmund first. She walked over to him with a glare and he challenged with his own glare. Ester hit his arm and chose to ignore his asking why she hit him.

"That was your sister! Why would you do that?" Ester questioned and Edmund looked to the ground without answering. "That's what I thought."

Ester went back to her room and took off her boots and now wet from robe and threw them on the floor. Ester crawled into bed and tried to fall asleep but Peter's word kept intruding into her thoughts. Was she over stepping her bounds that much? She hadn't meant any harm and she was right about the forest. Ester couldn't fathom why Peter and Susan were having such a hard time believing Lucy, has she been dishonest in the past? She was almost asleep when she heard knocking at the door. It was Susan looking sheepish.

"Do you mind if I sleep in here tonight?" Susan asked walking in and looking to Ester for an answer.

"I don't mind," Ester answered getting up and moving her suitcase from the other bed. "But might I ask why?"

"Lucy is refusing to stay in the same room as me." Susan smiled sadly and thanked Ester.

"Oh." Ester mumbled returning to her own bed kind of wishing that Lucy had been the one to stay here. Ester then felt bad for thinking something that rude.

"Ester?" Susan asked after a few brief moments of silence.

"Yeah?"

"Are Peter and I wrong?" Susan asked rolled over and looked at Ester. "The professor said we ought to believe her, but, she's talking about a world in a wardrobe."

"You might not have to believe in the forest, just your sister." Ester looked over at Susan. "I was there today. She's not lying."

"So you think Ed is lying then?" Susan asked looking back up at the ceiling.

"Ed is both lying and trying to be a jerk. I think he learned from his brother." Ester mumbling feeling bad about being rude yet again.

"What?" Susan asked scrunching her eyebrows

"Never mind that, goodnight." Ester ended the conversation and Susan said goodnight back.

Ester then rolled over, and fell right asleep dreaming about the beautiful forest and friendly faun. Ester began to imagine Narnia in the spring with the birds chirping and animals running about happily. She dreamt of blooming trees and a beautiful lake. She also dreamt of Aslan, if her Gran was right about everything else then there must be the great lion she spoke o highly of all of the time. Ester wanted nothing more than to meet the great lion.


	5. Ester In The Sun

**I own nothing but Ester. **

Ester woke up feeling overwhelmed by her previous nights dream. She had been correct to assume she would dream of Narnia and the beautiful forest wouldn't leave her mind had she wanted it to. When Ester awoke, Susan was no longer in the bed beside hers and instead Lucy was sat with her back against the headboard reading. Lucy smiled when she realized Ester was awake and she told Ester to get dressed and that she would bring up some toast.

Lucy rushed out of the room to give her some privacy. Ester pulled her suitcase back onto the unoccupied bed and then unzipped it slowly still not fully awake. She looked around and saw that her ribbon was sitting on the dresser. She walked over to it and saw a little piece of paper ripped out of a notebook underneath it. She little the ribbon and twirled it between her finger before picking up the paper. In neat writing it said; I believe this is yours. Ester blushed at the thought of Peter having handled the ribbon and returning it in this way. Ester decided it was best to get dressed now before Lucy ran back into the room with Ester half exposed.

Ester put on a light brown skirt with a plain powder blue blouse with a brown cardigan that perfectly matched the skirt. She tied her hair into two french braids that rested on either side of her chest. Ester put on white socks and some classic black shoes. She started to walk towards the door when Lucy burst in like the ray of sunshine she is.

"I put on the good jam." Lucy smiled handing Ester the two pieces of toast that were on a non reusable napkin.

"Thank you." Ester smiled taking the toast and sitting back on her bed to nibble on the toast.

"It's a beautiful day," Lucy walked over to the window and opened the curtain so Ester could see as well. "After toast, would you like to go outside?"

"Oh, yes. I would love nothing more than some fresh air." Ester smiled and stood up. "In fact, I'm so eager that I'll just bring the toast with me."

"I'll bring my book, I've almost finished Alice In Wonderland, you know." Lucy smiled tucking the book under her arm.

"Enjoy it?" Ester asked walking alongside the young girl.

"Yes, dearly." Lucy smiled leading Ester towards the back door. "I'll have to get my own copy."

Ester finished her toast and Lucy suggested they play hopscotch which Ester wouldn't admit she was really excited about. Ester used to play it all the time but hadn't in years. Lucy drew the squares with a piece of chalk and each girl found a suitable rock for throwing. Lucy went first and threw the rock which landed on seven. Lucy did her hops on one foot but lost her balance and fell over on five. Ester laughed and Lucy playfully glared at the older girl. Ester threw her rock which landed on ten. Ester hopped all the way and picked up the rock before turning and hopping back on the opposite foot.

"I don't think my balance is as good, Ester." Lucy laughed and they played a couple more rounds before retiring to sit by the edge of the trees.

Lucy began to read her book and Ester laid down so her body was in the warmth of the sun but also so the shadow of trees shielded her face. Lucy was silent as Ester basked in the sun. The others soon walked outside and began to set up a game of cricket. They offered to let Ester and Lucy join, not really Ed but the others, to which both girls declined.

"Come on," Peter coaxed. "It should be a laugh."

"No, thank you. I'm quite comfortable." Ester yelled back across the field and Lucy decided to just stay quiet.

Ester decided to sit up properly and watch the game from her seat beside Lucy. Lucy, however, had no intention of looking up because she was still feeling cross with her sister and brothers. Ester watched them play a few rounds until Ed was next up. He grabbed the bat from Peter and walked over to the right spot. Edmund looked up at the sky and seemed to zone out but Peter took no notice. Peter wound up and pegged Edmund right in the leg. Ester heard Lucy chuckled but the youngest girl just smiled innocently.

"Oops, wake up dolly daydream!" Peter shouted laughing at his brother who glared intensely at Peter.

"Can't we play hide and go seek again?" Ed asked with a frown and Lucy rolled her eyes.

"I thought you said that was a kids game." Peter retorted raising both of his eyes at his younger brother.

"Besides, we could all use the fresh air." Susan said with a smile.

"Not like there isn't air inside." Edmund mumbled out with a snarky attitude that only Susan picked up on.

"Are you ready then?" Peter asked holding up the ball again.

"Are you?" Edmund challenged hitting the bat against the ground a few times before getting into position.

Peter pitched the ball harder than necessary and Ed swung with a lot of power. So much that the ball flew through the air and smashed into a window. Ester squinted to get a better look and saw the circular hole in the window of one of the upstairs windows. Lucy grabbed Esters hand and began pulling her towards the house after the other three who were already sprinting towards the door. Peter led the whole group upstairs and opened the door to a few rooms to figure out which one had the ball and broken window. He opened the one at the end of the hall, which Ester thought he should have done first because it did go through a window, and he stared from the doorway before being pushed in by Susan who wanted to see.

Ester was the last one in the room and she stifled a laugh at the knocked over suit of armour. It was scattered along the floor and the ball was a mere foot away from the suits helmet. There were glass shards sprinkled across the floor making Peter request for everyone to watch their step.

"Well done, Ed!" Peter muttered shaking his head and crossing his arms.

"You bowled it!" Ed defended crossing his arms as well.

"Listen!" Susan hissed and everyone quieted down hearing footsteps and mumbling that was impossible to understand through the walls. "Mrs. McCready is coming!"

"Run!" Peter insisted shooing the lot out of the room and into the hallway.

McCready's footsteps echoed throughout the house. It seemed to chase the frightened five around every corner. When the tapping of McCready's shoes sped up, Peter led them into a random room. The room happened to be the one sporting a large wardrobe and a white sheet crumbled on the floor. Edmund was the first to race across the room and early dive into the wardrobe and Lucy didn't hesitate to pull Ester along and into the portal that turns on and off. Peter and Susan hesitated by the door and Ed yelled for them to hurry up.

"You've got to be joking!" Susan muttered looking at Peter who just pulled her by her sleeve.

Once they were all in Peter closed the door but left it open a crack. It would be quite foolish to lock ones self in a wardrobe. The next few moments were not Ester's favourite because there was pushing, shoving, and complaining. Ester fell and smacked her head against the wardrobe and she quickly put her hand to the spot on her head that now ached.

Ester heard someone fall and she turned around to see Peter and Susan sitting in the snow. Lucy smiled brightly and Ester happily skipped into Narnia.

"Impossible." Susan muttered looking around mesmerized.

"Don't worry," Lucy had a very smug, yet not uncalled for, look on her face which made Ester laugh. "It's probably just your imagination."

"I don't suppose saying we're sorry would quite cover it?" Peter asked looking sheepish and Susan offered a smile.

"No, it's wouldn't." Lucy smirked and threw a ball of snow that hit Peter in the face causing a laugh to circulate through everyone but Ed. "But that might!"

That's when a full on snowball war broke out. Ester picked up a snowball and hit Peter in the back of the neck and Peter retaliated by covering Ester face with snow. Ester was laughing as she threw a snowball at Lucy. Susan then picked up some snow to form a ball and threw it at Ed. When it hit him in the arm he muttered out 'ow'.

"Stop it!" Ed complained rubbing where Susan had hit.

"You little liar!" Peter nearly shouted pointing a finger at him with a glare.

"You didn't believe her either!" Edmund defended crossing his arms.

"Apologize to Lucy." Peter demanded and Ed gave Lucy a blank stare. "Say you're sorry!"

"Alright! I'm sorry." Edmund gave in to Peter's strict demands and apologized to his sister.

"That's alright, some little children just don't know when to stop pretending," Lucy smirked again and walked over to Ester who gave the shorter girl a high five.

"Very funny." Edmund made a face at Lucy to mock her.

"Maybe we should go back." Susan suggested rubbing her arms in the cold.

"Can't we at least take a look around?" Edmund asked standing on his tippy toes to look over the trees.

"I think Lucy should decide." Ester declared and Peter nodded right away and Susan couldn't help but agree.

"Well, Mr. Tumnus it is." Peter smiled walking back into the closet.

"I think you're right Ester but, we can't just walk around in these clothes." Susan shivered as a breeze rolled by.

"We can use these coats." Peter said holding a bunch of fur coats in his arms, handing the first one to Susan.

"Peter, they don't belong to us." Susan said taking the coat anyway but she just held it.

"Well, I don't think the professor will mind." Peter said handing Ester a coat which she took and shrugged on right away. "And if you think about it logically," Peter was quiet for a moment as he helped Lucy put on the heavy coat. "We are not even taking them out of the wardrobe." Peter smiled as Susan put on the coat and handed one of the last two coats to Edmund.

"But that's a girls coat!" Edmund whined grabbed it harshly out of Peters hand.

"I know." Peter shrugged putting on his own brown coat.

Lucy held Susan's hand as she began to lead the way to Tumnus' house. Edmund kicked snow and slowly walked behind them and Peter walked with Ester behind the whole lot.

"Um, I wanted to thank you." Peter was quiet for a moment while he thought. "And apologize."

"You don't have to." Ester looked ahead of her trying to focus on something other then the gorgeous boy beside her.

"No, I most certainly do. You believed in my sister when I should have. I was also rude to you and I-" Peter looked over at her and saw a bruise forming on her forehead. "Is you're head alright? What happened?"

"I tripped in the wardrobe. It's nothing." Ester put her hands the pockets of the huge coat.

Peter grabbed her forearm and made her face him. He leaned in and very gently and very lightly kissed the blue bruise. Ester blushed so brightly as Peter's lips lingered on her forehead sweetly. When he pulled back he couldn't help but chuckle at the deep blush on Ester's face. Ester's blush made Peter blush instinctively because of the crush he's developed on her since they got to the home in the country less than a week ago. Peter grabbed Esters hand out of her coat and intertwined there fingers.

"I thought your hand, uh, might be cold." Peter said as an excuse that made Ester blush more.

"Oh, it, it was." Ester corrected herself quickly. "It is, I mean."

Susan looked over her shoulder and saw Esters and Peters interlinked hand and she smiled to herself asking Lucy if she liked Ester.

"I think she's fantastic." Lucy smiled and skipped a little as Susan agreed.

"I think Peter might like her." Susan smiled and Lucy looked confused. "More then a friend, Lu."

"Why do you think that?" Edmund asked from behind butting into their conversation.

"Look at them." Susan said and all three looked over their shoulders at the same time.

Both Peter and Ester just looked away, refusing to acknowledge the three pairs of eyes staring at them. Susan smiled when she noticed the small smiled on Peter's lips and the constant blush on Ester's.


	6. Ester In The Dam

**I own nothing, except Ester.**

Susan walked beside Lucy listening to her go on and on about the wonderful things they will do today. Edmund kept to himself but kept looking over the trees while following his sisters. Peter and Ester however were talking about Polly Plummer, Ester's grandmother.

"So, she told you stories of this place?" Peter asked as Ester grip on his hand tightened as another breeze rolled past.

"Yeah," Ester bit her lip and glanced at Peter before quickly looking back to where she was walking. "I was stunned when Lucy said the name of this place. I have no idea how my gran knew about this place, I always they believed they were just bedtime stories."

"This is no story." Peter said and sped up a little as Lucy came to a stop.

The door on Mr. Tumnus house was broken and hanging by one door hinge. Lucy quickly ran forward and Susan kept right on her heel. Edmund seemed distant and he bit his lip while looking at the door. Ester pulled Peter behind her towards the house and he didn't complain about the tight grip Ester had on him. When Ester reached the door behind Susan she cautiously made her way inside. Ester pushed a small end table away with her foot and almost instantly Lucy flew over to Ester and wrapped her arms around Esters stomach.

Peter then released her hand and walked over to the middle of the room which had a piece of paper that was nailed to the old wooden support, and he read it silently. That's when Edmund finally walked into the room and he looked around with raised eyebrows.

"Who would do something like this?" Lucy asked up as Ester crouched down in front of Lucy. Ester shrugged sadly and held Lucy tightly.

Everyone heard a snap and saw that Edmund had stepped on a picture unknowingly. He picked it up and saw a faun and asked Lucy if that was Tumnus.

"It's his father." Ester replied and he nodded setting it on the table.

"Peter, what's that on the wall?" Susan asked noticing what Peter was reading. Peter ripped off the paper and read it aloud.

"The Former occupant of these premises, the Faun Tumnus, is under arrest and awaiting his trial on a charge of High Treason against her imperial Majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia, Chatelaine of Cair Paravel, Empress of the Lone Islands, also to comforting her said Majesty's enemies, harbouring spies and fraternizing with Humans. Signed Maugrim, captain of the Secret Police, Long live the Queen." Peter finished handing it over to Susan who looked very frightened.

"Now we should really go." Susan said dropping the paper to the floor and looking at her siblings.

"But we have to help him!" Lucy stated letting go of Ester and Ester stood up again.

"It's out of our hands now Lu." Peter smiled sympathetically and Ester raised her eyebrows.

"You don't get it do you?" Ester asked crossing her arms. "Lucy's the human. He helped her, and socialized with me."

"Maybe we should call the police?" Peter offered and Susan scoffed rolling er eyes.

"These are the police!" Susan cried unhappily.

"Beside, he's a criminal!" Edmund yelled and Lucy glared at him harshly.

"Don't worry Lucy, we'll think of something." Peter said to Lucy but looked at Ester to reassure her as well.

Then they heard a 'psst' come fro one of the trees and Susan looked indescribably shocked. There was a robin sitting on the tree that was hoping from side to side on the tree slowly.

"Did that robin just 'psst' us?" Susan asked with wide eyes.

The group walked outside cautiously and the robin flew away from the branch. Susan claimed it must have been a strange noise in the wind. Then they heard a snap come from a bush right near the entrance to Tumnus' house. Peter ushered them all behind him and Edmund of course refused. Peter smiled and chuckled at his worry when a beaver popped out from behind the small bush.

"It's a beaver." Lucy said smiling slightly at it.

"Here, boy." Peter crouched down and held out his hand making a clicking sound. "Come here." Peter said in a quiet tone making a few more clicking sounds.

"Well, I ain't gonna smell it if that's what you want!" The beaver claimed standing up on it's hind legs and patting the ground twice with his tail.

"It's a talking beaver!" Edmund shouted stating the obvious.

"Lucy Pevensie?" The beaver asked looking between the girls.

"Yes?" Lucy asked stepping closer to it despite Susan's protests. The beaver handed her a small white handkerchief. "This is the handkerchief I gave to Mr-"

"Tumnus." The beaver finished for him. "He gave it to me just before they took him."

"Is he alright?" Lucy asked suddenly looking hopeful.

"Further in." The beaver uttered scurrying off into the trees. Peter began to follow but Susan grabbed his sleeve.

"Peter, we don't know what your doing." Susan stated and Peter turned to face her.

"She's right. How do we know we can trust this beaver?" Edmund stated crossing his arms not wanting to agree with Susan but he'd rather that than follow Peter.

"He says he knows the faun." Peter answered shrugging and Ester nodded agree with him.

"He's a beaver." Susan said pausing between each word. "He shouldn't be saying anything!"

"Is everything alright?" The beaver asked popping out from the spot were he left.

"Yes, we were just talking." Peter turned to look down at the brown mammal.

"That's better left for safer corners." The beaver whispered looking around before scurrying off again. Lucy followed behind quickly and Ester slowly followed but turned to the confused three first.

"He means the trees." Ester looked around and grabbed Peter's sleeve making him begin walking before she dropped it.

They all walked silently following the beaver. They walked out of the forest and between to very large cliffs that made Ester feel so small. They were underneath a bridge of some sort when they caught sight of the dam. It was seemingly perfect to Ester. Lucy must of had the same thought.

"There is home sweet home." Mr. Beaver said not pausing to look but instead just kept walking.

"Oh, what a beautiful dam, Mr. Beaver." Lucy complimented making both Ester and Peter smile.

"Merely a trifle." Mr. Beaver said modestly and Ester believed that if animals blushed, he would.

Beaver led them towards the dam and when they were a few feet away another beaver walked around from behind it and started speaking before they were in her sights.

"Is that you Beaver? I find out you've been out with Badger again I'll... oh, they're not badgers. I never thoguht I would see this day." Mrs. Beaver spoke gently as she looked at Beaver. "You couldn't give me ten minutes warning? Look at this fur." She complained trying to quickly run her hands over it.

"I would've given you a week if I thought it would help." Mr. Beaver chuckled at his own joke and everyone else but Edmund and Mrs. Beaver cracked a smile.

"Well you must be cold," Mrs. Beaver paused. "And hungry. Let's get you inside for some food and civilized conversation."

Everyone followed Mrs. Beaver into the house and Peter looked around asking where Ed is but moments later Mr. Beaver returned with Ed. Mrs. Beaver instructed everyone to take a seat and they did happily not wanting to hunch over anymore in the short dam.

"Fish and sticks, dear." Mrs. Beaver smiled placing the tray of food onto the centre of the table.

"Is there nothing we can do about Mr. Tumnus?" Peter asked looking between the two beavers while everyone else got some food.

"Well... there's hope!" Mrs. Beaver claimed turning on a kettle.

"There's a load full of hope." Mr. Beaver waved them all in closer. "Aslan, is on the move." He whispered and waited for a happy reaction.

"Who's Aslan?" Edmund asked sitting by the door eating a chip.

Mr. Beaver began laughing and everyone just looked at him and Mrs. Beaver put her hand on his furry arm.

"Aslan, you silly little blighter." Mr. Beaver looked at Edmund who had raised one eyebrow in confusion. "You don't know do you?"

"Well we haven't actually been here very long." Peter informed him and Ester covered her mouth trying to chew her fish and swallow faster so she could speak.

"He's the great lion, right?" Ester asked looking at Mrs. Beaver who nodded.

"He's not jut that, he's the true king of Narnia... and he's waiting for you!" Mr. Beaver explained and everyone just looked even more confused.

"Waiting for us?" Lucy asked what everyone else had been thinking.

"You got to be joking!" Mr. Beaver proclaimed getting seemingly frustrated. "Look, Aslan's return, Tumnus' arrest.. the secret police! They're all happening because of you!"

"You're blaming us?" Susan asked sounding insulted and Mrs. Beaver shook her head quickly.

"Not blaming you dear, thanking you." She clarified.

"There's a prophecy, when Adam's flesh and Adam's bone sits in in Cair Paravel in throne the evil is over and done." Mr. Beaver recited looking to each person sitting in the little dam.

"You know that doesn't really rhyme." Susan muttered looking at Mr. Beaver.

"I know, but you're kind of missing the point." Mr. Beaver sighed looking at Susan.

"It's long been told that two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve will appear to defeat the White Witch, and restore peace to Narnia."

"See? You're wrong. There's three girls." Susan said looking at them accusingly.

"Mr. Beaver..." Mrs. Beaver went quiet but Ester frowned.

"I'm not actually related to them. I can go..." Ester mumbled awkwardly and everyone looked at her.

"See?" Mr. Beaver mocked Susan and looked at Ester. "Two of each."

"And you think we're the ones?" Peter asked looking at the beavers.

"You better be, Aslan's already fitted out your army!" Mr. Beaver said shocking everyone.

"I think you've made a mistake; we're not heroes!" Peter said raising his voice trying to make them understand.

"We're from Finchley!" Susan said loudly as if that mattered.

"I think it's time we were going." Peter declared standing up from his seat hitting his head on the roof making Ester chuckled despite the situation.

"But what about Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy asked frowning.

"Sorry Lucy." Peter looked seriously at her. "It's out of our hands."

"Thank you for your hospitality." Susan stood up slowly and smiled politely.

"Ed, time to go." Peter looked around the room and called his name again. When he realized that Ed wasn't here he turned to face Susan. "I'm going to kill him."

"You may not have to." Mr. Beaver looked to Lucy specifically. "Has Edmund been to Narnia before?

Lucy nodded and Mr. Beaver sighed. He instructed they all follow him outside and they did. Edmund could be mistaken for a tree but the movement was clear as day. There was a small black spec of a shape moving towards a grand castle that Ester would have loved seeing had there not been a very evil witch residing there. Peter began to ran, yelling for the others to hurry up. They began running up a hill and they lost sight of Ed. Peter made it to the top first and stopped. Ester was the second last to reach the top and she turned to offer her hand to Lucy who kept slipping in the snow.

When Ester had pulled Lucy up she turned and saw what everyone else did. Edmund walk through the grand doors of the castle.


	7. Ester In The Tree

**I own nothing, except Ester.**

Peter instantly began running to stop his brother but Mr. Beaver jumped on his arm trying to stop him. Peter stopped dead in his tracks and tried to pry the beaver of his his arm. Peter shook his arm trying to rid himself of the persistent Beaver. Nothing would work which resulted in Peter yelling.

"Get off me!" Peter shouted and Mr. Beaver held on tightly. "We can't just let him go!" Peter argued.

"Don't you get it!?" Mr. Beaver shouted making Peter stop and he jumped down. "He's the bait! She wants all of ya in there! To kill ya!"

"This is all your fault!" Susan shouted poking her finger into Peter's chest. "None of this would have happened if you had just listened to me in the first place!"

"So you know this would happen?" Peter snapped back making Susan back up a foot or two.

"I didn't know what would happen." Susan quipped making a sour face.

"Stop, this fighting isn't go to help Edmund." Lucy said raising her hands to bring everyone to peace but it only brought silence, not peace.

"She's right." Mr. Beaver sighed standing on his back legs and looking at everyone standing before him. "Only Aslan can save him now."

"Then take us to him." Peter declared seriously and the Beavers nodded briskly.

Everyone made there way back to the dam where Mrs. Beaver led them inside and began to pack things for the trip. Lucy was worried and Ester took it upon herself to rest her hand on the younger girls shoulder from behind in an attempted to comfort her. Mr. Beaver tapped his tail before quickly losing his patience while his wife packed napkins and debated whether or not she could carry her sowing machine.

"Hurry mum, they're after us!" Mr. Beaver shouted watching her pace around.

"Right then..." Mrs. Beaver mumbled not doing anything differently.

"_What _is she doing?" Susan asked in despair as howling could be heard in the distance.

"Don't worry, you'll thank me later. It' a long journey and a beaver gets cranky when he's hungry." Mrs. Beaver opened the cupboard and grabbed some jars.

"**I'm cranky now!**" Mr. Beaver complained opening up a tunnel in the floor of the dam.

"Do you think we should bring jam?" Ester asked in disbelief and Lucy reached for Susan's hand.

"Only if the witch has toast!" Peter snipped stepping into the tunnel behind Mr. Beaver and helping in the others.

Mrs. Beaver was the last into the tunnel and Peter closed the tunnel door so the wolves would be put off for a few moments at the least. The tunnel was dark but Mr. Beaver seemed to know exactly where he was going. Ester walked behind Lucy silently before Mr. Beaver finally spoke.

"This should lead to Aslan's." Mr. Beaver whispered and Mrs. Beaver flicked him with her tail.

"I thought it lead to your mums!"

Lucy then tripped and fell to her knees and Ester quickly held out a hand for her. Which she grabbed but paused halfway through getting up and howling could be heard echoing through the tunnels. Ester tried not to looked panicked for Lucy's sake but it was hard.

"They're in the tunnel." Lucy whispered harshly and Ester finished pulling her up and they picked up there pace, running through the tunnel only to reach a dead end.

"You should have brought a map!" Mrs. Beaver whined putting her free hand on her hip.

"There wasn't any room, next to the jam!" Mr. Beaver sighed crawling up out of the tunnel.

Peter began to boost people out of the hole after Mrs. Beaver climbed out. He boosted up Susan, then Ester, and lastly he helped up Lucy. Ester then reached down and offered her hand to help Peter pull himself out of the tunnel clearly made for animals. Peter gratefully accepted her outstretched hand and almost pulled her back into the hole which would have made him chuckle and her blush had it not been for the situation they were currently in.

Lucy was walking backwards slightly when she tripped over a bunch of stones that were in a pile on the ground. She stood up and brushed off the snow when she realized it was stone animal that she just fell onto. Lucy quickly bounced away from them and fell into Peter's side, who gave her a side hug at the sight of stone badgers.

"He was my best mate." Mr. Beaver cried looking at the largest of all of the stones.

"What happened to them?" Ester asked crouching down next to the infant badgers.

"This is what happens," A fox said swiftly coming out from behind the tree. "to the enemies of the White Witch."

"Stand still there, traitor!" Mr. Beaver growled looking away from badger and to the red coated fox.

"Relax," Fox chuckled darkly. "I'm one of the good guys."

"Well you look mighty like one of the bad guys." Mr. Beaver replied with a scowl and the fox sighed.

"An unfortunate family resemblance," The fox muttered an looked up at the sound of howling. "But we can discuss family breeding later right now we need to move."

"What do you suggest?" Peter asked letting Lucy go and looking to the fox.

The fox chuckled and looked up to the tree above him. Mr. Beaver was the first to climb into the tree followed by Mrs. Beaver. Ester then grabbed a branch and heaved herself up and onto the lowest branch before crawling up to a higher one. Ester sat with her back on the trunk and her legs tucked into her chest. Moments later Lucy joined Ester on the branch but she laid down so her stomach was against the branch and her arms were wrapped around the bottom. Susan and Peter climbed into the tree after and they watched in horror as the wolves joined the fox on the ground below them.

"Evening gents," The fox said in his cocky tone. "Did we lose something?"

"Don't patronize me," Maugrim, the head of the secret police, spat at the much smaller and out numbered animal. "I know were your allegiance lies. We are looking for some humans."

"Humans in Narnia, now that's some valuable information." Fox chuckled and Maugrim snapped.

"Where are they!?" Maugrim shouted causing the fox to take a few steps back and hang his head.

"They, they," The fox whispered and Peter feared the fox would rat them out. "were heading North."

"Quick, smell them out." Maugrim demanded casting aside the fox with his large paw that caused the poor fox to hit the tree and lay on the ground whimpering. Lucy fought the urge to cry out.

Peter climbed out of the tree once the wolves were far enough away and held out is arms to help out Susan. When her feet hit the snow she went straight to the fox who hadn't yet got up out of the snow. Peter helped both of the beavers down and then Lucy. When it was Esters turn he let her put her hands on his shoulders and he caught her waist when it was in his reach. Ester quickly left his grip and walked over to Mr. Beaver who was sitting beside his stone friend. Peter watched her walk over with a smile. He hadn't anticipated developing feelings on a girl while he was shipped away from the war; but he did. He didn't realize he was staring until Susan looked up at him and then followed his line of sight to see he was staring at Ester who was listening to Mr. Beaver talk about Badger. Susan cleared her throat followed by a smirk and raised eyebrows that made Peter turn away with pink tinted cheeks.

Mrs. Beaver then sat beside Susan and started to patch up the Fox with the various things she had in her pack. Mr. Beaver thanked Ester for listened and then began to walk towards the larger group. Mr. Beaver waddled over and sat between Susan and Lucy who were listening to the fox tell his story while breaking to whimper now and then. Ester needed to have a think, so she sat away from the group, only to be joined by Peter a moment later. He didn't say anything, he just sat there. Ester would look over and see him looking at the snow and turn away when he started looking towards her. He never caught her looking at him but instead he saw what she did. He saw her looking at the snow.

"You could leave, you know." Peter finally said making a snowball in his hands.

"How could I?" Ester asked shaking her head.

"Edmund's not your brother." Peter said bluntly and looked over at her quickly before muttering. "I didn't mean for that to sound rude, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. You're right, he's not. But he's in trouble and by the sounds of it, these people could use all the help they can get." Ester said practically retelling what she was thinking about in the first place.

"I don't want you getting hurt, we're getting Edmund and then we're going home." Peter said throwing the snowball at a random tree.

"But what about Tumnus?" Ester asked and then looked over at the pile of stone. "Or the badgers?"

"How could I possibly help them?" Peter both asked and doubted himself.

"You've seen Aslan!" Mr Beaver shouted breaking Peter and Ester out of their conversation. Peter quickly got up and held out his hand for Ester to take, which she did, before leading her over closer to the others.

"What is he like?" Mrs. Beaver asked ripping her little hands together tightly in front of her.

"Like everything we ever heard," Fox breathed out. "He'll be a good help fighting the White Witch."

"We are not planning on fighting any witch." Susan explained standing up and brushing off the back of her coat.

"Surely King Peter..," Fox looked to Peter who tightened his grip on Esters hand.

"We just want to get our brother back." Peter said frowning and the fox looked shocked. "We'll go to Aslan, that's all we can promise." Peter released Esters hand.

"Then we shall meet again." The Fox said lowering his head briefly before retreating into the woods to gather more troops.

Mr. Beaver then had them on the move again but this time with a little less intensity dictating their speed. Lucy walked hand in hand with Peter while trying to distract herself with thoughts of Alice In Wonderland. They walked for no less than a half hour before arriving at a huge plain. Susan walked beside Esters and saw there moment alone as an opportunity.

"So," Susan started not knowing exactly how to say it. "Lucy sure has taken a shining to you."

"Seems so hasn't it?" Ester laughed at the little girl who turned and waved at both of them. Susan smiled back and Ester waved.

"And I think your nice, Edmund doesn't seem to hate you." Susan listed and pretended to think for a moment. "And Peter _really _likes you."

"Why did you say it like that?" Ester asked pertaining to the exaggeration.

"Like what?" Susan asked pretending not to know which was a hard thing to do for her. "I simply don't know what you're talking about."

"Now Aslan's camp," Mr. Beaver started loudly enough for everyone to hear but not loud enough for anyone in the trees to hear. "is just over there by the stone table just across the frozen river."

"River?" Susan asked suspiciously looking around.

"It's been frozen for a hundred years." Mrs. Beaver explained to her with a smile.

"It seems so far." Peter mumbled while Ester and Susan sped up a little to get close to the others which they did.

"It's the world dear, did you expect it to be small?" Mrs. Beaver chuckled and Susan rolled her eyes.

"Smaller.." Susan uttered making Ester laugh. The laugh made Peter smile and blush which in turn made Lucy narrow her eyes with a smile since she loved the idea of Ester and Peter.


	8. Ester In The River

They walked across the plain at a steady pace which didn't seem to be enough for Mr. Beaver. He kept rushing the and shouting for them to hurry up. Peter was getting annoyed but not to the point of frustration. Susan and Ester were talking about their school and Ester told her all about how she'd be starting a new one soon because her other never really liked her last one that was just the one they could afford at the time. Susan smiled when Ester told her she would be attending, Saint Finbars, because that's where Susan and Lucy had always gone.

"Come on," Mr. Beaver whined doing a windmill with his arm. "before we're old."

"If he tells me to hurry up one more time I'm going to turn him into a big fluffy hat." Peter joked picking up Lucy and carrying her on his back because her feet were getting quite tired.

"Hurry up Son of Adam! We don't have all day!" Mr. Beaver yelled seemingly getting frustrated.

"He is getting kind of bossy." Lucy observed pursing her lips after.

"No! It's her! Run!" He yelled turning and going into a sprint.

The four humans of the group turned their heads and saw a sleigh but couldn't make out any details. They had little time. Peter put down Lucy then grabbed her hand and ran with her as fast as Lucy could run. Ester and Susan passed them and began sprinting the same direction as the beavers. They made it into a small drop and Mr. Beaver jumped down instructing them to do the same. They made it into a little indent in the wall of the drop and they all sat quietly. Everyone was holding there breath when they heard jingle bells stops right near where they were. They heard footsteps above them and they could only hear one set of crunching footsteps. It was silent for a few moments when Lucy spoke up.

"Maybe she's gone." Lucy whispered so quietly that Ester could barely make out what she said.

"I'll go and have a look." Peter volunteered attempting to get up but Mr. Beaver shook his head.

"No, you're no good to Narnia dead." Mr. Beaver sighed standing up himself.

"Neither are you Beaver." Mrs. Beaver said sadly holding onto his hand.

"Thanks dear." Mr. Beaver gave her hand a kiss before he scurried out of the hole and up above them.

This was the longest thirty seconds of Ester and the Pevensie's lives. Their breathing got shallow and Lucy was gripping onto her sister and Ester's hand tightly while Peter had his hand on Susan's shoulder. Peter leaned forward slightly wondering if he could hear anything. When he was close the the opening Mr. Beavers head popped down and he yelled startling Peter and making Lucy scream. The sneaky beaver had a bright smile on his face and the patting of his tail could be heard.

"I hope you've been good, because there is someone here to see you." Mr. Beaver quickly left and everyone left the small cave that no one favoured over the open territory.

When Ester was back on the landing see could see a red sleigh with a man in a red suit standing with his hands on his hips and a smile on his face. There were reindeer and a sac full of presents and Lucy quickly ran over to him smiling.

"Merry Christmas, sir!" Lucy chirped standing before the much bigger man.

"It certainly is, Lucy. Thanks to you." Father Christmas smiled at her and nudged her cheek gently with his fist.

"I thought there was no Christmas in Narnia." Susan said unable to fight a smile from gracing her features.

"It hasn't been for a hundred years. But now the Witch's power is crumbling." Father Christmas explained before turning around swiftly to grab a bag full of presents to drop on the ground in front of him.

"Presents!" Lucy cheered smiling wider then Ester thought possible.

"Lucy, Eve's Daughter. These are for you." Father Christmas handed her a round vile that had a pouch and strap attached to it. "The juice of the fire flower. If you, or one of your friends are wounded, one drop of the cordial will restore them. And though I do not expect you to use it, this." He also handed her a small dagger that had a pouch that matched that of the vile.

"Well," Lucy looked at them thoughtfully. "I think I could be brave enough."

"I'm sure you could." Father Christmas smiled before turning to Susan and nodding her over. "But battles are ugly affairs. Eve's Daughter, Susan. Trust in this bow, for it does not easily miss." Father Christmas handed her a bow and some arrows.

"What happened to battles are ugly affairs?" Susan asked accepting the bow with a confused smile.

"And, though you don't seem to have trouble making yourself heard, this." He handed her a white horn that was engraved with pictures to perfection. "When you put this horn to your lips and blow it, wherever you are, help will come."

"Thanks." Susan smiled accepting a gift that would come in handy in the future.

"Ester, when you believe in yourself, as much as you believe in others then these will be mere accessories to you." Father Christmas handed her two swords that were short and light but sharp enough to pierce the skin during a rough swing. They came with a strap that went around her waist with a sheath on either side for the two one-handed swords. "This, is something that will protect you from darkness clouding your spirit." Father Christmas handed her a silver ring that had the word Narnia engraved on it.

"Thank you, sir. But how did you know I would even be here. I'm no prophecy." Ester said holding her sheathed sword in one hand and slipping her ring onto the index finger on her right hand.

"I wouldn't say that, Guardian of the Spirit." Father Christmas said pulling a sword and shield from his bag. "And, Peter. These are tools, not toys. The time to use them may be soon at hand."

Peter accepted the sword and shield with a slight smile but without words. The shield was silver and had a beautifully designed red lion it. Peter put the strap around his waist while Ester did the same. Susan put the bow and arrows on her back and Ester got onto her knees to help Lucy whose hands were too shakey from meeting Saint Nicholas to do the buckle up herself.

"Bare them well!" Father Christmas smiled grabbing his toy sac and pulling it back into this sled. "I best be off, winter is almost over and things do pile up when you've been gone a thousand years. Long live Aslan!" Father Christmas then got into his sleigh and cracked the reigns making the reindeer propel forward quickly.

"Bye, Merry Christmas!" A chorus of voice shouted after him and he raised his hand waving goodbye without turning back around.

"Told you he was real!" Lucy sassed popping out her hip jokingly.

"Did you hear what he said?" Peter asked and everyone shook their head. "Winter is almost over." Everyone blinked at his concern. "You know what that means, no more ice!"

Mr. Beaver put two and two together and had them all running in an instant. They were only a two minutes run away and they were all casing after the quick beavers. They got to the river and could see chunks of ice slowly detaching from the water fall which was still glazed with ice.

"Wait, maybe we should think about this." Susan said grabbing onto Peter's arm to stop him.

"We don't have time." Peter gestured to the crumbling ice.

"I was just trying to be realistic." Susan crossed her arms and looked nervously at the river.

"No," Peter started. "You're trying to be smart, as usual!"

Peter started walking along with everyone in tow when they heard cracks beneath their feet.

"Wait, maybe I should go first." Mr. Beaver offered stepping forward.

"Maybe you should." Peter nodded swallowing hard.

"You've been sneaking second helpings haven't you?" Mrs. Beaver asked when she heard snaps to big for a supposed to be tiny beaver.

"Well, you never know what meal is gonna be your last, especially with your cooking." Mr. Beaver tried to joke but no one laughed and he waved them across after he finished patting with his tail.

"If mum knew what we were doing.." Susan trailed off and Peter looked like he'd had enough.

"Mum's not here!" He shouted and Ester gasped reaching up to grab Peters chin and point his face away from Susan and towards the other side of the river where three wolves stood growling.

"Run!" Peter yelled turning around but another wolves was already there sneering at them. Peter pulled out his sword.

"Put that down boy, someone might get hurt." Maugrim teased a one of his followers pinned down Mr. Beaver.

"Don't worry about me!" Mr. Beaver shouted. "Slit his throat!"

"Leave now while you still can, and your brother leaves with you." Maugrim tempted and Lucy looked on skeptically as did Ester. Peter didn't put down his sword or loose the determined look on his face.

"Stop Peter, maybe we should listen to him!" Susan shouted in her brothers ear as loud viscous cracks could be heard.

"Smart girl." Maugrim growled and began to become impatient.

"Don't listen to him!" Mr. Beaver shouted and whimpered when the dog bit down harder. "Kill him! Kill him now!"

"Look, just because some man in a red suit hands you a sword doesn't make you a hero! So just drop it!" Susan yelled and Ester could see the confused look on Peter's face.

"No Peter! Narnia _needs_ you!" Mr. Beaver shouted and Peter looked determined yet again.

"What's it gonna be Son of Adam? We're not going to wait forever. And neither is the river." Maugrim nodded his head at the waterfall.

"Peter!" Lucy shouted in fear at the leaks the waterfall began to spring.

"Hold onto me!" Peter shouted plunging his sword deep into the ice.

The piece of ice they were standing on broke off. Peter crouched down and Lucy and Susan both grabbed onto him while Ester grabbed into Susan. The float away was rough and water kept splashing up into their faces but Peter kept a tight grip and kept the ice balance although it kept teetering. Ester felt her body getting wet by the second until the ice crashed onto the shore. Susan and Ester got up and wrung out their hair instinctively. Then Peter stood up and pulling his sword out of the ice while still holding onto Lucy's coat with the other. Susan looked at the coat with horror noticing Lucy wasn't still inside it.

"What have you done?" Susan asked harshly but gave him no time to answer before she started yelling Lucy's name. Everyone else followed suit.

"Has anyone seen my coat?" Lucy asked walking up the shore to us and a collective sigh of relief washed through the group. Peter put the wet coat over Lucy's shoulders even thought it wouldn't do much.

"Your brother here has you well looked after." Mr. Beaver smiled and Susan and Peter gave Lucy a hug and Ester watched from a few feet away peeling the wet coat off her shoulders.

"I don't think you'll be needing those coats anymore!" Mrs. Beaver chirped happily.

Ester looked up to see the pink buds forming on the trees. The snow at their feet was melting as spring was coming about. They walked on and Mr. Beaver told them it would only be a few minutes walk. Susan walked with Lucy and the beavers while they talked about Aslan and Mrs. Beaver told the one of the old stories.

Peter however, walked with Ester and talked about his dad. Ester smiled and listened to Peter talk and he finally admitted that the only reason he was strict on Ed was because he worried about him constantly. He needed a good father figure and Peter thought that maybe, he could fill in the spot. Peter looked at Esters hand and wanted nothing more than to grab it. He'd done it earlier, why couldn't he do it now? She wasn't his, that's why. Peter thought that there must of been someone at home waiting for Ester. She was too kind, and too beautiful to not have someone loving her already. Peter worked up the nerve and asked her.

"So, are you seeing anyone?" Peter asked and Ester jumped at the question and sudden subject change.

"Uhm, no." Ester looked away from Peter and looked at her feet. "Boys never seem to take interest in me."

"I did." Peter smiled looking at her and thought about how cute she looked with a blush splashed across her face.


	9. Ester In The Camp

The group walked until they could see a few red tents in the distance. Mrs. Beaver instantly tried to fix her fur and her husband told her that she looked lovely which made Ester smile. Ester looked to Peter and saw he was already looking at her and smiling. Ester bit her lip and looked away quickly thinking that she's blushed in front of him enough today. She assumed he would begin to find her weird. They walked through the camp and all eyes were on them as they walked through the centre of camp. Creatures stopped what they were doing no matter how important to watch the group stroll up to have their first discussion with Aslan.

"Why are they all staring at us?" Susan asked Lucy in a whisper and Lucy laughed before answering.

"Maybe they think you look funny."

The comment that left Lucy's mouth made both Peter and Ester smile, Peter even let out a chuckle. Ester elbowed him gently and pointed to Susan's less than satisfied face but Peter's smile never faltered. They walked up and landed before a black horse with the upper body of a man. His coat was shiny and seemingly well tended to. Peter pulled out his sword looking rather professional and nodded at the centaur.

"We have come to see Aslan." Peter confidently declared and the flaps of the largest tents began to blow in the breeze.

The great lion Ester had dreamed about came from the door of the tent and the Pevensie's, Ester and the Beavers all knelled before him instinctively out of respect. Aslan looked at each of them for a second before he nodded for them to stand once again, which they did.

"Welcome Peter Adam's son, Welcome Susan and Lucy daughters-of-Eve. Welcome Ester, Guardian of the Spirit. Welcome Beavers. You have my thanks, but where is the fourth?" Aslan greeted and asked with a deep voice.

"That's why we are here." Peter answered looking a little sheepish at the lion before him.

"We had a little trouble along the way." Susan chuckled awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck and squinting one eye.

"He's been captured by the White Witch." Peter announced making the crowd that's gathered gasp and begin to chatter amongst themselves before Aslan called for silence.

"He betrayed them, your Excellence!" Mr. Beaver shouted pointing towards the sky.

"Then he has betrayed us all." Oreius said in a voice deeper, but not greater, than Aslan's.

"It is my fault really. I was too hard on him." Peter said looking down and Ester instinctively reached out and grabbed his hand, holding it in hers. He smiled slightly at her returning the grip she had on him.

"We all were." Susan explained feeling a little guilty herself.

"Sir," Lucy pulled her lips into a tight line. "He's our brother."

"I know dear and that makes the betrayal all the worse. It may be harder than you think." Aslan looked around for a moment. "Beavers, I do believe you've earned a good deal of rest. Peter, daughters of Eve, I invite you to change into new clothes." Aslan looked to Peter. "I'll await here, I ask you to join me once you've changed."

Ester was taken into a tent along with Susan and Lucy. They were given nice dresses and instructed to change. They all face the wall and changed with their back to each other. Lucy's dress was a burgundy and red, Susan's was green and blue, and Ester's was yellow and white. Ester put on her ring and her weapons around her waist. Once they were changed they all admired the beautiful dresses and walked outside. Susan and Lucy decided to go to the river and invited Ester to tag along but she declined.

Ester was sitting on a rock just leaning back on her arms enjoying the warm sun on her face. Ester opened her eyes and took in every things that's happened. It's been less than a week since she's been home and she's been down the rabbit hole. Ester looked around and took in all the sights around her. The creatures all laughing and enjoying doing their part for the war effort, the beautiful designs on her dress, and Peter talking to Aslan with the sun shining behind them making them look God-like. Ester found herself being creepy and blushed. Peter was perfect, he was kind, funny, gentle, and gorgeous. That's when a horn blew through the air snapping Ester out of her thoughts. Susan's horn.

Ester jumped of the rock and ran down by the river to see what everyone else did. Aslan holding down one wolf and Peter holding his sword at the other. The wolf jumped on him and his sister's screamed but the wolf was killed off by Peter. Maugrim had been tailing them, and now he was dead. Peters sword was coated in blood and he looked simply shocked by what happened. Aslan released the other wolf and it ran away in the opposite direction at top speed.

"Follow him! He'll lead you to Edmund." Aslan order and a few people ran to follow the retreated wolf. Aslan looked to Peter. "Peter, clean your sword." Peter stabbed his sword in the ground and pulled it out. "Rise, Sir Peter Wolfsbane – Knight of Narnia."

Peter rose and looked to be in awe which made Ester smile slightly. That was until she noticed the dead wolf and she felt a little light headed so she made the decision to go back to her tent. Or maybe her rock. Ester found herself just walking at this point. She found herself further from the camp then she probably should be but she couldn't find it within in her to care. Ester had been through so much in less than a week and she found quite overwhelming. Ester sat down with her knees tucked into her chest and her arms wrapped around her knees. She rested her head on her kneecaps and let one hand fall to the ground and play with a few blades of grass.

Ester heard someone walking behind her and had she not seen two wolves attack the camp about ten minutes ago she wouldn't have given the effort to see who it was. But she did, she turned and saw Peter walking towards her looking rather confused. He sat beside her silently and she sighed lightly. Peter said nothing and instead just wrapped a comforting arm around her waist. Ester laid her head on her shoulder and looked up at his face through her eyelashes. Peter looked down at her and resisted the urge to kiss her forehead though he found it difficult.

"We should head back." Peter whispered not actually making a move to leave. "Turns out that Narnia is pretty dangerous." He joked and Ester laughed standing up. Peter watched her before he stood up himself.

Ester walked a few feet in front of him but was stopped by Peter grabbing her hand and pulling her closer to him. He looked down at her and Ester swallowed hard. Peter leaned down a little and waited for her to move to make sure she wanted to kiss him back. When she slowly moved towards him he closed the gap and kissed her tenderly. Ester rested her hands on Peter's biceps and he rested his her her waist. Ester couldn't help but smile into the kiss which made Peter smile and pull away but not far enough that he couldn't put his hands on the side of her face and bring her closer to kiss her nose affectionately, which he did.

"Come on." Peter dropped his hands as did Ester but he held out his hand for her to take. "We should both get some rest."

Ester said nothing but grabbed his hand and let him guide her back to her tent. They walked silently but comfortably sharing quick glances and smiles. When they were at her tent she let go of his hand and said goodnight but that wasn't enough for Peter. He pulled her into a gentle hug and he rested his head on top of hers.

"Thank you for being here, Spirit Guardian."

"It's actually Guardian of the Spirit." Susan joked passing by them to go into the tent laughing.

"Nice try though." Lucy laughed grabbing Ester's hand and pulling her into the tent and away from Peter. Both Ester and Lucy laughed but Peter jokingly pouted at his sister's bullying him.

Ester changed into supplied night clothes and tried to ignore the stares from the two other girls in the room. Ester simply got onto the uncomfortable cot and tried her best to get to sleep. She whispered the names of both Lucy and Susan and due to the fact they were sleeping, neither replied. Ester sighed and got out of her bed. Ester walked out of her tent and over to the rock she liked to sit on.

"I assume Peter doesn't know you're here." A deep voice said from beside Ester and she whipped around to see Aslan there.

"No, He doesn't, sir." Ester said calming at the sight of him.

"I can also assume he wouldn't like you out of her tent." Aslan commented walking next to her and sitting with his tail flirting behind him.

"I don't think he'd mind." Ester chuckled hugging her knees to her chest.

"I have to disagree Guardian." Aslan said blinking twice without looking at her.

"What do you mean?" Ester asked looking up at the great lion.

"He cares for you deeply, it's evident in his mannerisms." Aslan said flicking his mane around.

"Is it?" Ester asked not remembering any obvious indications of his feelings for her.

"Yes."

"Aslan?" Ester asked stretching out her legs and letting them dangle off the rock.

"Yes?" Aslan asked looking at the Daughter of Eve.

"What do you mean Guardian of the Spirit?" Ester asked finally ready for some clarity.

"Just as it sounds, dear one. You guard the spirit. Have you not defended the idea of Narnia already? By believing Lucy when no one else had." Aslan said and Ester must have looked confused because Aslan added. "Peter told me."

"Oh, I suppose I did." Ester remembered when she was rude rude to Peter and regretted it, even though she apologized almost instantly after.

"I must now go. Even great lions must sleep."

Ester sat there and watched Aslan retreat and reenter his tent. She laid back so she could face the sky and see all the stars sprinkled around it. Ester was still confused as to how there could have been a portal to a different world in a wardrobe. Then she found herself zoning out thinking about only snapping back into reality no less than an hour later. Ester felt uneasy and didn't want to go back to her own tent so she made her easy to Peter's instead. She stood outside debating whether or not it was a good idea to go in. In a moments decision she pushed herself into the tent and saw Peter peacefully sleeping on his cot. Ester couldn't bring herself to rob him of his rest so she began to leave to go back to her own tent.

"Ester? What are you doing?" Peter asked and Ester turned to see him half awake and rubbing his eyes.

"Couldn't sleep." Ester said bluntly looking at the ground feeling awkward and regretted getting herself into this situation.

"Come here." Peter said pushing himself over so Ester could lie with him, which she did without hesitation. She got onto the cot and rested on her side with her back facing Peter. Ester felt Peter lifting the blanket up over her body until his hand was over her torso. Then he dropped the blanket and his arm fell with it landing on her stomach. "Go to sleep." Peter whispered into Esters neck and she obeyed. Ester closed her eyes and was so comfortable that she drifted off to sleep.


	10. Ester In The Crowd

Ester woke up with a crick on her neck due to the uncomfortable cots supplied for the army. Ester could still feel Peters arm on her stomach and she looked over to see him still peacefully sleeping. Ester pulled his hand off slowly and froze when he stirred. When he stopped he got his arm completely off and stood up, quickly scurrying off to her own tent. Outside was warm and the sun was rising but Ester didn't see anyone roaming about yet and she hoped no one saw her. She quietly opened the flaps of her tent and saw the other two girls were still asleep. Ester changed into a different, purple dress and walked back outside. Ester made her way to the centre of the camp were Oreius stood looking towards the open fields. Oreius noticed Ester walking around and turned to face her, his hooves light against the grass.

"Guardian, why are you awake as the sun still rises? Haven't your days been long? Your rest should be longer, dear one." Oreius lookin at her with squinted eyes.

"I suppose, but honestly, I feel fine." Ester crossed her around and watched as he turned back to the field. "What's it like? To be half horse? If that's not rude to ask."

"It's splendid really, to be able to go faster than two legged creatures. Also, the breeze you feel while at top speed is incomparable." Oreius said not taking his eyes off his the field.

Ester didn't want to bother him anymore so she walked back to her tent to grab her weapons. She picked the up off the floor next to her bed and secured them around her waist. She also decided to take off her ring and put it on the table between Ester and Susan's beds. She walked out towards the training area where she saw a wooden pole that had various branches sticking out of it. When you hit one, then another would move and could potentially hit you if you don't react quick enough. Ester walked over to it and unsheathed her weapons.

Ester held one in front of her and pulled one behind her back before bring them to both hang at her side. Ester had no idea how to use these. Out of frustration she whacked one of the moving targets with the short sword in her left hand only to be knocked to the ground by one of the targets from behind. Ester heard a laugh and turned to see a faun she didn't recognize. Ester huffed before quickly getting back onto her feet.

"Would you like some assistance?" The faun asked walking over to her with to similar blades around his waist.

"Fine." Ester said and the faun trotted over to a different training post. She watched as he effortlessly hit the targets with his swords, elbows, and his hooves. This faun had clearly been practising for a long time.

"Trick is to listen. You'll think you hear a bird flying by but it's actually those moving targets cutting through the air." The faun kicked one of the targets then turned so quickly while swiping one sword to hit the one that nearly hit his head. "Everything makes a sound."

Ester watched him walk away and became very determined to get this right. Ester began hitting them slowly, making the counter movement also slow until she could keep up. She was hitting then blocking fairly decently, only getting tapped a few times. Ester groaned every time one of the wooden targets hit her back or side but she finally got to a point where nothing was touching her and she was going faster and began to use her elbows as well as her feet. She was in full training mode until she heard Peter's voice call her name. That distracted her enough for one of the targets to whip around and hit her, quite hard, in the back of the head.

"Sorry, didn't mean to distract you." Peter chuckled holding out his hand and helping Ester off the ground.

"I thought you came and stayed in my tent last night but it must have been a dream because I woke up and you weren't there." Peter joked as Ester stood up and brushed off her dress before bending down to pick up her two blades.

"I just got up early, is all." Ester told him smiling and sheathing her weapons. Ester didn't hesitate to pull him into a hug and he happily wrapped his arms around her. "Thanks for, uh, letting me stay last night. I slept well."

"Sure, anytime." Peter smiled into her hair and dragged his hands over to her biceps to pull her back lightly. "I actually came over here with some really good news. They've rescued Edmund!"

"That's fantastic!" Ester smiled and Peter pulled her in for another hug. "Where is he now?" Peter pulled back and started walking beside her towards the table of food set out for all of them.

"Resting." Peter laughed and put his arm around Ester shoulders from beside her to guide her to his sisters.

"Oh my, glad they found him." Ester whispered not liking the thought of Edmund being prisoner.

"He feels terrible. So at least he's learned." Peter said and Ester nodded in agreement. "You go eat." Peter said once the table was in view. "I'm going to go see about a horse to practise on. I'll join you later."

"Alright." Ester smiled and walked off and towards to two Pevensie girls. "Morning."

"Morning," Both the girls said in unison watching Ester take a seat beside Susan after taking off her weapons.

"So, where did you go last night?" Susan asked smirking and narrowing her eyes. "I woke up in the middle of the night and you weren't there."

"Oh, I couldn't sleep." Ester shrugged grabbing an apple from the centre of the table and leaning back.

"Yeah, but where did you go?" Susan asked again but this time she raised her eyebrows.

"I went to sit, talked to Aslan, then, uh, Peter's tent." Ester confessed biting her apple and both of the girls squealed.

"Are you guys together?" Lucy asked with a bright smile.

"No, Lu." Ester clarified biting her apple.

"Why not?" Lucy asked and Ester found no proper way to answer in her mind.

"They will, don't worry." Susan laughed biting her toast.

Ester changed the conversation to the beautiful dresses they were given. Susan and Lucy then dropped the topic altogether and began to talk of the dresses, then the Narnians, and then Aslan. The conversation kept changing and Ester hadn't realized they'd been talking for an hour. Peter then sauntered over with Edmund walking beside him and all the girls hushed. Edmund sat next to Lucy and Peter next to Ester which made Susan raise her eyebrows and Ester roll her eyes. Edmund didn't waste any time and began to scarf down pieces of toast after pieces of toast.

"Narnia isn't going to run out of toast, Ed." Lucy laughed watching her brother eat himself to death.

"Then you better pack some for the journey." Peter said scratching the side of his neck.

"So, we're going home?" Susan asked without cracking so much as a smile.

"You are, I promised I'd keep you three safe but there's no reason I can't stay and help." Peter explained and looked to Ester. "And I just can't have any of you hurt."

"But they need us," Lucy whined pouting at Peter. "All five of us."

"Lucy it's too dangerous. You almost drowned, Edmund was almost killed." Peter said putting his hand on the table and sighing.

"Which is why we have to stay." Edmund said making everyone look at him. "I've seen what the White Witch can do and I've helped her do it, and we can't leave these people behind to suffer for it." Ed said and Lucy grabbed his hand comfortingly.

"Well I guess that's it then." Susan said standing up and brushing her dress off lightly.

"Where are you going?" Peter asked looking up at her and squinting from the sun being in his eyes.

"To get in some practise." Susan smiled picking up her bow and quiver from beside her and Lucy jumped up to go with her.

"I'm going to talk to Oreius. I'll be back." Edmund said standing up to leave right before grabbing two more pieces of toast to take with him.

"No one would be upset if you left." Peter said moving over to sit behind Ester with her between his legs. Peter rested his chin on her shoulder and turned slightly to look at his face.

"I would be." Ester corrected turning to face the table again.

"You'd be safe." Peter whispered and kissed her shoulder making her shiver.

Ester then stood up abruptly grabbing her swords and walking towards those posts that have a habit of beating her up. Peter was confused for only a moment before he got up and walked after her. Peter grabbed Esters arm and spun her around and chuckled when he saw the playful smile on her lips.

"You have a habit of running away from me." Peter complained and Ester laughed before walking away again.

"And you're persistent." Ester said confidently over her shoulder.

Ester walked over to the training posts and she looked over at the shooting range to see Susan practising. Ester nearly doubled over laughing when she saw Lucy throw her dagger and hit the centre of the target completely showing up Susan. She got back on task quickly and began to practise again. She swung her sword and then heard a wisp of sound near her feet and she kicked backwards and saw a post flying towards her. She used her elbow to hit it away and then her sword the swipe at the one coming towards her stomach.

"Ester! The White Witch is here!"

Ester turned to see who the voice belonged to but she heard another wisp of sound. She turned and reached out her hand and grabbed it stopping the training completely. She saw the same faun from earlier and she sheathed her weapons and followed the faun towards the large gathering of people.

Ester pushed through the crowd to get to where Peter was standing. She grabbed onto his hand and he tightened his grip knowing she was frightened. They watched as Cyclops' carried the White Witch on a bed type carrier. They made there way down the path the Narnians made which led directly to Aslan. A dwarf walked in front of her shouting Jadis over and over and Edmund tensed beside Ester at the sight of him. Ester looped her arm through Edmund's and he smiled at her before the smile fell off of his face again.

"You have a traitor in your midst, Aslan." The White Witch claimed getting off of her platform making everyone gasp.

"His offence was not against you." Aslan declared glaring at Jadis.

"Have you forgotten the Deep Magic?" Jadis asked tilting her head at him and he growled slightly.

"Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was made." He shouted bracing his large paws.

"Then you will know that the boy belongs to me." The White Witch turned and scanned the crowd before her eyes fell on Edmund. "That boy," She pointed at Edmund and his other hand flew to Esters shoulder in fear. "will die on the Stone Table."

"Come and take him then." Peter said releasing Ester hand and pulling out his sword and he stood prepared to fight.

"You think that a simple threat will deny me y rights, little king? Aslan knows that if I do not have blood as the law demands, all of Narnia will overturned, and perish, in fire and water." Jadis said stepping towards Peter slightly who didn't falter.

"Enough, I shall talk to you alone." Aslan said turning and leading the White Witch into his tent.

Peter put his sword back in it's sheath and Edmund released Ester. Peter looked over at Esters concerned face. His face fell and he held out his hand for her to take. Ester didn't hesitate to grab his hand and leaned into his side. Ester rested her head on his shoulder and Peter rested his head on top of hers. No body said a word for ten minutes as they waited for the conversation to finish. Then Jadis walked out and Peter stood up straight putting his free hand on his sword. Aslan followed after her and held his head high.

"The Witch has denounced her claim on Edmund." Aslan declared and everyone cheered and Ester gave Edmund and awkward hug due to the fact Peter still had a tight grip on her hand.

"How will I know your promise will be kept?" Jadis asked turning just before she could sit down.

Aslan let out a mighty roar which makes the White Witch fall into her seat. The Narnians laughed as did the humans. Aslan sighed and walked into his tent without another word. Edmund told everyone he was going to practise alone needing a moment to reflect and Peter nodded. The whole crowd dispersed going back to their individual tasks. Peter looked down at Ester and she smiled up at him.

"I know Edmund's here now but do you think-" Ester was cut of by a chaste kiss from Peter which made Ester blush.

"You can stay with me." Peter smiled happy with the thought she'd be safely with him.


	11. Ester In The Army

Ester spent the last few hours of light training before she was finally too tired to carry on. The faun, Ester now knew as Rupin, had even practised with her for a while. Ester had disarmed him and he was too impressed to be grumpy about it. Ester sat down and watched as the sun set. Ester was joined by Edmund who just sat beside her silently for a few moments.

"So," Edmund started gaining Esters attention. "I saw you training. You're really good."

"Thanks." Ester said looking at the beautiful shades of orange that danced across the sky.

"Aslan told me about you, being the Spirit Guardian or whatever. Lucy really needed a good sibling and I did something terrible to her. I still feel horrible about that." Edmund sighed and hugged his knees tight against his chest. "She needed a sibling like you."

"No," Ester corrected and Edmund scrunched his eyebrows together. "She needed a _friend_ like me. Good chat with Aslan then?"

"I won't soon forget it." Edmund smiled slightly and looked at the sky with one eye squinted. "Everyone forgave me."

"You're their brother, of course they forgave you." Ester elbowed him and he smiled elbowing her back.

"Well, I'm going to go talk to Oreius before bed. I have questions about the Deep Magic or whatever it's called. See you later." Edmund said standing up and scurrying away.

Ester stood up and brushed off the back of her dress before going back to her tent. Ester wasted no time in changing into a nightgown and walking to Peter's tent. She whispered his name trying to see if he was decent before just entering. She heard something drop and then Peter call her in. Ester walked in to see Peter picking up his shield with a sheepish look on his face.

"Hi." Ester said smiling and pushing her hair behind her ear.

"Hey, Ester. You going to run away tonight?" Peter joked leaning his shield on the trunk beside the door.

"I never ran away. I just woke up early." Ester clarified smiling.

"I worry about you." Peter joked lifting up his blanket and gesturing for her to get in the bed. Ester happily walked over and slide into the bed and watched Peter crawl in after her and put the blanket around them both.

Peter laid on his stomach beside Ester with his arm draped over her stomach. Ester was comfortable on her back while looking over at Peter who was glancing back at her with a tired smile. He mumbled for her to sleep and closed his eyes snuggling into the fluffy pillow. Ester closed her eyes and easily fell asleep. Peter was fighting trying to stay awake to wait for Edmund to get back and into bed out of habit. When he heard a muffled shuffle behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see Edmund walking into the tent. Peter gave Ed a small nod and put his head back on the pillow before falling asleep wondering what Ester was dreaming about.

Ester woke up at the crack of dawn as she typically did. She tried to quietly sneak of Peter's grasp which seemed to have gotten tighter during their slumber. Ester had his arm slightly in the air when he stirred a little making Ester freeze and look at blond haired lad. When he settled she began to move again and let out a small puff of air when she let his arm down on the pillow she no longer occupied. Ester crawled to the end of the bed and stood up leaving the tent to walk back to her own. Ester changed into the dress she had worn the first day. Someone had cleaned it for her and she had no idea who to thank. Ester put on her weapon sheath and made her way to her training spot.

Ester got right down to it. She was kicking and swiping her sword quickly and effortlessly at this point. Ester had really gotten used to the feeling of swinging the swords but she couldn't even imagine winging them to purposely injure someone. She wondered if she was even going to participate in the war. Ester wanted to, there was nothing else she could really do to help. Ester got tired of training and walked back to her tent to see if Lucy was awake yet since she hadn't paid any attention when she was first in there. Ester flicked the drape like doors out of her way and saw both Susan and Lucy's beds empty. She tried hard to think if they had been like that before but she couldn't recall. Ester left the tent again and went to look by the water where they had been attack by Maugrim. No one was there except for Ester. Confused, Ester turned around and walked over to Rupin who had been on watch by the entrance of the camp. He nodded politely at her while she walked over.

"Hello," Ester said with a slight wave. "Have you seen Lucy and Susan? I can't seem to find them."

"Not since yesterday when the White Witch was here." Rupin replied tilting his head. "Are they missing?"

"I don't know yet, let me talk to Peter." Ester turned and rushed away from Rupin.

Ester quickly ran to Peter's tent and didn't bother with the formality of making sure it was alright for her to enter. Ester quickly went to Peter's beside and shook him awake which he groaned at. Ester said his name loudly repeatedly until he had no choice but to wake up. When Peter saw Esters worried face he pushed his covers back and titled his head at her. Peter sat up and Ester told him that she couldn't find his sisters. Just as they spoke petals floated into the room in a thick and swerved line. When they settled into shape it looked like a woman.

Peter went into protective mode and grabbed his sword near his bed. Peter pushed Ester behind him. With his weapon raised and his mind filled with confusion the figure began to speak.

"Fear not my princes. I come with tidings of grave news, from your sisters. Aslan has sacrificed himself, dear ones. Your sisters remain with him even after his life."

Ester pushed her way out from behind Peter and walked out into the fresh air. Peter left her be knowing she needed a moment, he had a few questions anyway. Ester walked to her own tent and crawled into her cot. Ester was alone for at least an hour when Peter walked in. He silently crawled next her her and looked at her quizzically. Peter sighed and used his strong arms to pull her closer to him. Ester felt his lips on her temple so she kissed the exposed skin of his neck affectionately.

"I'm leading them." Peter whispered and Ester felt his shudder at his own words.

"I'm not sitting out." Ester clarified and Peter chuckled.

"You knew I would ask?" Peter chuckled despite the seriousness of the situation.

"I assumed you would." Ester mumbled and pull back a little to look at his face.

Esters eyes danced over his features before she leaned in to give him a small kiss. Ester felt him relax under her touch and she smiled as she pulled away. Peter wasted no time before he pulled her back. He kissed her deeply to not only show his affection but also to distract himself. Ester shivered at the feeling of his tongue flicking over her lower lip. Ester brought her fingers up to graze over his cheek. When Peter pulled away she looked up at him with raised eyebrows but also a shy smile.

"What if I can't do it?" Peter asked showing the most vulnerability that Ester had ever seen.

"You can." Ester said giving Peter one more reassuring kiss. "I believe in you."

"Thanks, Ester." Peter said with a small smile and Ester smiled back.

Peter told Ester that he needed to finalize battle plans. He gave her temple another kiss and told her that there would be someone would be by later to give her further instruction. She nodded and immediately went to find Rupin to see if he wanted to practise. She found him practising where she typically did. He accepted her challenge and they both began to fight valiantly. Ester hit Rupin's shoulder with the handle of her blade. While he stumbled back a few steps, Ester stepped around him and kicked the back of his knee sending him to the ground. She pointed both of her blades at his back making him scoff, but surrender all the same.

"Rupin!" Edmund shouted walking towards the pair. "Peter would like a word."

"Alright." Rupin said climbing back onto his hooves and trotting away quickly.

"Need a sparing partner?" Edmund asked smiling and pulling out his sword.

"Absolutely." Ester accepted smiling.

Ester and Edmund both got into an offensive stance. Edmund counted down from three but Ester swung at two. Edmund slide to the left but it barely missed his arm. Edmund retaliated by swinging from above their heads but Ester put up both blade and blocked his attack.

"That's wasn't fair." Edmund scolded jokingly while Ester pushed with her blades sending him back a few steps.

"Life's not fair." Ester joked swinging low only to be met by Edmund's shield.

Edmund laughed but quickly got his head back into the match. Ester leaned back enough for Ed's sword to swing over her chest but no more than an inch. They swung at each for twenty minutes before Ester finally surrendered. Ed was a fantastic fighter and Ester had no chance of defeating him but he was still confident in her abilities. Edmund told her that he needed to go talk to Peter about battle plans and Ester nodded in reply. Ester returned to her training against the wooden targets until Rupin arrived back in the area.

"What did Peter want a word about?" Ester asked before practically throwing herself onto the ground.

"Oh, nothing, just minor details." Rupin mumbled and sat beside Ester shaking the thick hair on his knees with his hands.

"Oh I see, confidential information/" Ester joked smirking at the faun. "I understand."

"Your lucky." Rupin sighed looking at his hands as he clenched and unclenched his fists. "Having someone who wants nothing but to protect you."

"Are you talking about Peter?" Ester asked looking at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"Well, yeah." Rupin answered jokingly returning her expression. "He doesn't want you to fight at all but he also knows that's not an option. So, now you have a war partner."

"A war _partner_?" Ester asked lifting her head up to see the blue sky sprinkled with little white clouds.

"Peter wanted me to watch your back but how I see it," Rupin chuckled before continuing. "You'll be watching my back."

The conversation was cut short when the sharp sound of a horn was heard cutting through the air. It was time. Rupin hopped up first and held out his hand for Ester to grab which she did and she used it to pull herself up. They walked together silently to the large field where everyone was to gather. Everyone knew their place. Ester told Rupin that she would be a moment and she ran over to Peter who stood watching everyone go to their temporary place on the battlefield. Oreius moved over a couple steps to give a leopard some orders. When Peter noticed Ester walking over his expression didn't change but he walked over to her.

"No one will judge you if you leave now, and go somewhere nice and safe." Peter said as a last attempt to keep Ester as far away from the upcoming war as he can.

"I came over here for a hug." Ester said not answering his plea and he sighed softly pulling her into his arms.

"Be safe Ester." Peter whispered into Esters hair and she nodded slightly making Peters throat swell up. He didn't want this to be the last hug.

"Stop worrying, this isn't the last time we'll see each other." Ester clarified and he would of chuckled at her knowing what he was thinking but his thoughts weren't in a place that allowed smiling. When Peter pulled away and leaned in to kiss her forehead she grabbed his neck and pulled his lips to hers boldly. The kiss was short but had more meaning than any one before it. "And that won't be the last kiss."

Ester looked over Peters face one last time before retreating back to Rupin who walked beside her to their spot in the large army. Today was a day of war.


End file.
